Sunil Gavaskar on Ashwin’s absence from WTC final XI: ‘If there was a No. 1 batter, would he have been left out?’

India’s crushing 209 run defeat against Australia in the World Test Championship continues to draw opinions from cricketers of the yesteryear. There’s many questions to ponder, too: Should India have batted first? Did Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma get the conditions wrong? Who should have been the keeper? But one that has been a constant is on India’s choice to go without Ravichandran Ashwin – the No. 1 Test bowler.

Ashwin, with 470 Test wickets, is the best in the world as the rankings would suggest. During the 2021-23 World Test Championship cycle, he was the third-highest wicket-taker and is lethal against left-handed batters – with Australia boasting of five lefties in their playing XI. Yet, Ashwin was kept out and India went with a four seamer approach.

As the debate rages on, with Sachin Tendulkar wading in too, Sunil Gavaskar slammed not just the current regime but the previous one under Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri as well for the treatment meted out to Ashwin.

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“India dropped Ravichandran Ashwin, the No. 1 ranked bowler in the game, according to the ICC rankings. The Australians had five left-handers in the team and while one leftie – Travis Head – scored a quickfire century in the first innings, another southpaw Alex Carey got a 48 in the first innings and an unbeaten 66 in the second. During that second innings effort, he also put on 93 runs with another left-hander Mitchell Starc at a time when India were looking to dismiss Australia cheaply in the second innings,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

“If Ashwin had been in the team, who knows what could have happened. With the bat too, he could have contributed. No other top-class Indian cricketer in the modern era has been treated as bafflingly as Ashwin has been. Tell me if there was a No. 1 ICC-ranked batter in the team, would he have been left out of the playing XI just because in earlier times he had not got runs on a grassy pitch or if he had not scored runs on a dry spin-friendly pitch? Definitely not.”

This was the sixth time Ashwin had been dropped from a Test in England. Earlier, during India’s five-match Test tour of England in 2021, the off-spinner didn’t feature in a single fixture. This when Ashwin has a fairly reasonable record of 18 wickets in seven matches in the country. His last appearance in England came during the 2021 World Test Championship final, against New Zealand, where he took four wickets.

“In Ashwin’s case, despite being the No.1 bowler, he is not always the first spinner to be brought on. Oh yes, there are reasons given that there were right-handers at the crease, so a left-handed spinner was given the ball or the wind was blowing in a certain direction or the bowler’s follow through footmarks were for the left-handed spinner, etc as if Ashwin has only left-handed batters as his wickets,” Gavaskar continued.

“This is not being wise after the event, but a pattern that has been seen over the years. But for this ‘hard to understand thinking’ he would have already played more than 100 Test matches. The pitch on the fourth day eased out considerably and with the two most experienced batters in the team together, it could have been a gripping finish to the Ultimate Test match. Even if India were to win, it should not blind us to the treatment given to Ashwin and whatever the explanation that is given, the bowling results in the match where India have been asked to chase 444 tells us that dropping him was not the right call to make.”

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