I would have loved to play because I have played a part in us getting there – Ravichandran Ashwin opens up on his WTC Final omission

India’s veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin shared his disappointment after he was left out of the World Test Championship final against Australia, in which Team India lost by a huge margin of 209 runs. India decided to play four seamers in Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, and Shardul whereas they went in with Ravindra Jadeja as the lone spinner.

Rohit Sharma decided to bowl first after winning the toss in overcast conditions but the Indian bowlers were not right on the money in the second and third session of the opening day, conceding 97 and 157 runs respectively.

Meanwhile, many cricket experts, including Sunil Gavaskar, stated that the decision to drop Ashwin was baffling as he is the World No.1 bowler in the ICC rankings. Furthermore, Australia had five left-handers in their final XI and the off-spinner could have come in handy but the team management thought otherwise.

Ravichandran Ashwin said in an interview with Indian Express, “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.”

Ashwin added that he has been bowling well in overseas conditions since 2018-19 but accepted the team’s decision to drop him because of the English conditions on offer.

The veteran added, “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 has scalped a total of 474 wickets in his glorious Test career. Moreover, the off-spinner had taken 25 wickets in the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia earlier in the year but the home conditions were completely different to the Oval.

After the WTC Final, Ashwin took the first flight from London and played for Dindigul Dragons in the Tamil Nadu Premier League.