Monty Panesar opened up on India picking Shardul Thakur ahead of the veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. However, India played with four seamers and a solitary spinner in Ravindra Jadeja on a green top at The Oval in London as well. The decision backfired as Australia posted a massive first-innings total of 469 after being asked to bat first and eventually won the game by 209 runs as well.
During an interaction with DD India, Panesar said: “I think India performed really well with the team that they selected. It’s quite surprising that they didn’t select Ashwin because at The Oval, when England play Test matches here, they tend to obviously play two spinners. I am surprised that India didn’t play to their strengths, which was Ashwin and Jadeja together because especially with the left-handers, in the first innings when Australia scored so many runs on Day 1, I think Ashwin playing would have really helped.”
However, India conceded 327 runs and claimed only three wickets on Day 1. Middle-order batter Travis Head took the game away from them by smashing an unbeaten 146 on the first day and then a 174-ball 163 that earned him the Player of the Match award as well. Along with him, Steve Smith also smashed a hundred.
However, Monty Panesar was further asked about India’s choice of electing to field first after winning the toss. He also shared that the Australian left-handers would have preferred to play Shardul Thakur rather than R Ashwin even if it was a seamer-friendly surface.
“For India, their strength is their batting and spin bowling. So when they won the toss, they should have batted first and backed their players to do pretty well on these green tops. Australia won more sessions and on the first day when they won all the three sessions, it just put India on the back foot. So I thought if they could have batted first and had Ashwin in the side, that probably would have been a better option. If you ask the likes of Travis Head, David Warner and Usman Khawaja – the left-handers, who would you rather face Shardul Thakur or Ashwin, even on a green top, they will say Shardul Thakur,” Monty Panesar concluded.
