Former India women’s skipper Anjum Chopra opens up on Ashwin’s exclusion from the Indian squad for the WTC 2023 Final against Australia.
Anjum Chopra opens up on Ashwin’s exclusion
World Test Championship 2023 final was scheduled to play from June 7 to 11 in Kennington Oval, London between India and Australia.
The team management went with Ravindra Jadeja as their only spinner in the match, which led to the exclusion of the ace all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin.
Earlier, Bowling coach Paras Mhambrey explains the reason for the exclusion of Ashwin from the playing 11.
Though Mhambrey makes a statement regarding Ashwin’s exclusion, many cricket experts slam the Indian selection committee for their decision to play without Ashwin. 100-centurion Sachin Tendulkar also slams the Indian selection committee for excluding Ashwin.
Notably, Ashwin gave a top-class performance in the Border-Gavaskar trophy, earlier this year.
“Absolutely! I definitely felt that. In fact, my playing XI did have (Ravichandran) Ashwin there. I’m not saying that you can’t play four pacers, it’s nothing of that sort, but I always felt that irrespective of the conditions, had India lost the toss and we were asked to bat, we would have struggled to think, ‘Oh! Now what do we do?’ I’m pretty sure that the team management thought through the decision,” Anjum told.
“As a player, I would have always kept Ashwin in that line-up, just because, I think he is a quality bowler and irrespective of the conditions, he can deliver the goods. And he’s absolutely in isolation, just looking at his skill level and the records the Indian team has had with him in the playing XI,” she added.
Ashwin emerged as the highest wicket-taker in the BGT 2023 with a total of 25 scalps in four matches. It also included two five-wicket hauls. He also bagged away the joint Player of the Series award with Ravindra Jadeja.
Recently in an interview, Ashwin also spoke about his skills and how he approaches the exclusion.
“It’s a hard question to answer, right? Because we are standing right after the WTC Final. I would have loved to play because I have played a part in us getting there. Even in the last final I got four wickets and bowled really well. Ever since 2018-19, my bowling overseas has been fantastic and I have managed to win games for the team,” he told the IE.
“I am looking at it as a captain or coach and I’m just talking in hindsight, in their defence. So the last time when we were in England, it was 2-2 with a drawn Test and they would have felt 4 pacers and 1 spinner is the combination in England. That is what they might have thought going into the final,” Ashwin added.
