Former India player turned commentator Aakash Chopra has defended India’s team selection for the World Test Championship Final. He thinks, “there was no way” they would’ve played veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin instead of going with four seamers as well. However, India’s bowling attack of Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, and Shardul Thakur conceded 327/3 on Wednesday.
Seeing their struggles, many criticized Ashwin’s omission and said that his variations and quality spin against Australia’s left-handers would have been helpful at the Oval. But, Aakash Chopra said considering India’s preference to bowl first (probably looking at the green Day 1 pitch), and Jadeja’s sublime form made the team take this decision.
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“Once India decided to bowl first (in case, India won the toss), there was no way they would’ve played Ashwin,” Aakash tweeted. “Four seamers was the right way to go. And Jadeja has got the nod over Ash in almost all overseas Tests in this cycle…so, how and why did you expect anything different this time?”
Meanwhile, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting also shared that Team India needed Ashwin on this pitch because it might turn the table in the last two days. Former England captain Michael Vaughan called it a “big mistake” while Team India’s former captain Sourav Ganguly said he would have kept Ashwin if he was in charge as well.
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At the toss Rohit Sharma said as quoted by Cricbuzz: “We are going to bowl. Jjust the conditions and also the weather being overcast. I don’t think the pitch will change too much. You have to play good cricket and come out on top. Four seamers and one spinner. The spinner is Jadeja. It’s always tough (to leave Ashwin), he’s been a match-winner for us over the course of so many years. But you got to do the things that’s needed for the team and eventually we came up with that decision. He (Rahane) brings a lot of experience, he’s played 80-odd Test matches and he’s done well for the team. He’s been out for a while but but I don’t think the experience that he has can change all of that.”
