'Haarna to fir bhi tha' - Fans react as Ravichandran Ashwin breaks silence on his exclusion from WTC final playing XI

Ravichandran Ashwin on WTC final (Source - Twitter)

Indian team suffered a disappointing loss against Australia in the World Test Championship final against Australia on Sunday. The Aussies completely outplayed India in both batting and bowling and registered a big victory by 209 runs to clinch the Test mace in the second edition of the WTC.

However, after the loss, the Indian team management is getting criticized by fans and cricket for their selection of the playing in the big final. Many believe that the star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin should have been included in the playing XI. The 36-year-old is currently the number one Test bowler and is also ranked second on the list of all-rounders in the longest format.

I have managed to win games for the team: Ravichandran Ashwin

Notably, India conceded 469 runs in the first innings and 270 runs in the second innings and gave a mammoth target of 444 runs for India to chase. Many fans said that things would have been different if Ashwin was included in the playing XI as he was also the joint Player of the Series along with Ravindra Jadeja in the last Border Gavaskar trophy in India. However, now, the off-spinner has himself broken the silence on the same issue as he talked in detail about the decision of selecting the playing XI.

“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. 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 said in an interview with Indian Express.

“The problem is for a spinner to come into play, it must be the fourth innings. The fourth innings is a very crucial facet and for us to be able to put that amount of runs so the spinner can come into play, it’s completely a mindset thing,” he further added.

Massive sad story happened WTC final for Ravichandran Ashwin playing now Tamil Nadu premier league but WTC captain Rohit Sharma holidaying some part of the world. This is the spirit of the cricket 🏏

— Arvind Raghava (@ArvindRaghava5) June 15, 2023

Not playing @ashwinravi99 in such a big game defied cricketing as well as strategic logic. You play your best bowler, irrespective of conditions. And how can we ignore Aussies who had so many lefties!

— Sumit Agarwal 🇮🇳 (@sumitagarwal_IN) June 15, 2023

Being a captain is a very difficult job, I am not trying to defend anyone but had Rohit took Ashwin in playing XI in place of Umesh and India would have lost, people will still criticise that Rohit was stupid to not play with 4 pace bowlers and compared him to Cummins who played…

— Bhupender Thakur (@MisterBeeTee) June 15, 2023

It's so unfortunate that a top batsman like kohli,pujara or rohit will also be a part of the team no matter what the conditions are...
But with bowlers, we tend to become extra logical and scrutinising...
Ash as a bowler is equivalent of virat as a batsman in Test cricket

— Sumit (@summitrolls) June 15, 2023

The way this man has performed for INDIA and given his everything to the Test Cricket, it would be an honour for him to lift the WTC Mace.

He deserved it more than anyone. I would really like to see him in the next WTC FINAL but this time in the XI lifting the Mace.

— Shivbhakt Abhishek (@Anjaneya_06) June 15, 2023

It must've been so tough for him to be left out being the no.1 test bowler and the best spinner of the world...who played one of the biggest roles in India's road to WTC final.

— movieman (@movieman777) June 15, 2023

We need test specialists. Not part time national players. Ashwin, Virat, Pujara, Rahane, must be the first inclusions. Rest of the team should be made around them. Nothing can beat experience in test cricket.

— Neil (@Neil4Forex) June 15, 2023

Politics is what rules Indian cricket sadly, players like Rahul get selected even when he doesn’t perform. Pujara gets selected even though his 100 is also of no use as he takes forever to score them. Rahane plays 2-3 innings in ipl and gets selected for test but…

— Pradeep Kumar (@iamPradeep1977) June 15, 2023

Leaving out world no. 1 bowler @ashwinravi99 in the finale, this team didn’t want to win it. They never played @yuzi_chahal either, in back to back WT20s. These setbacks are enough to learn and correct the mistakes.

— NK (@khurana_sahb) June 15, 2023