Who said what - 5 top comments on India dropping Ravichandran Ashwin for WTC final

As Australia piled on 327 runs for just three wickets on Day 1 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final, India's team selection, viz the No.1-ranked Test bowler, Ravichandran Ashwin, became the biggest talking point.

India went with four pacers and one spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for the match. They started well, reducing Australia to 76/3 but lost the plot once Travis Head (146* off 156) counter-attacked and Steve Smith (95* off 227) held one end.

While some key figures defended the move to play Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav instead of Ashwin, others felt this choice might cost India the match.

The following are the top five comments on the subject.

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Paras Mhambrey - India's bowling coach opens up on not playing Ashwin

The most important comment here is from Paras Mhambrey, India's bowling coach.

He said the decision was based on the conditions at the time of the toss (overcast skies and green pitch) and past success with the same combination.

“It is always a very difficult decision to drop a champion bowler like him," Mhambrey said. "Looking at the conditions in the morning we thought an additional seamer would be beneficial. It has also worked in the past for us. Seamers have done well out here for us. You can always look back and say that additional spinner would have been beneficial but we took the call looking at the conditions."

A similar attack (with Jasprit Bumrah instead of Mohammed Shami) led to India's famous win at the Oval in 2021.

However, India conceded a 100-run lead after batting first in that match and then scored 466 runs in the third innings to set up a defendable target.

Here, the bowlers failed to make full use of the swing and seam available on Day 1.

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"I think it will turn" - Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting (PC: cricket.com.au)

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said after the toss on Wednesday that the pitch might start to turn as the match progresses and India could miss Ashwin's services against the five left-handers in their opponents' team.

"Now that they have won the toss and bowled, they want to do some damage with the new ball," Ponting told Channel 7. "Because as this game goes on, I think it will turn and they would've wanted Ashwin to spin the ball away from the Australian left-handers, and he's not there."

More than 50 percent of Ashwin's 474 Test wickets have come against left-handers.

In 2021, he became the first bowler to get 200 Test wickets against lefties.

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"India missed a trick" - Sunil Gavaskar

Legendary former India batter Sunil Gavaskar said the choice of Umesh ahead of the top-ranked Test bowler is beyond his understanding.

“India missed a trick by not playing Ravi Ashwin," Gavaskar told Star Sports. "He's the No. 1 Ranked bowler. You don't look at the pitch for players like him. You are playing a World Test Championships final, and you don’t pick the number one bowler in Test cricket. This decision from Team India is beyond my understanding. I would have picked him in place of Umesh Yadav, who was out of action and looks out of rhythm."

Umesh conceded 54 runs in his 14 overs with his right-arm pace, going at just under four runs per over without picking up any wickets.

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Aakash Chopra defends India's call

Taking on Twitter after the day's play, cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra was one of the few voices defending the decision.

He said the team combination was the best for a side that wanted to bowl first.

"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?"

Pat Cummins' Australia also fielded the same combination, with Nathan Lyon as the only spinner.

However, the debate in India is whether, purely on skills, Ashwin was a better asset than Umesh and Thakur irrespective of the conditions.

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Sourav Ganguly says he would have kept Ashwin in his team

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly admitted that the debate is an "afterthought" but added that he wouldn't have dropped the off-spinner if he was in charge.

"See it's an afterthought. And I don't believe in afterthoughts," Ganguly told Star Sports. "As a captain, you take a decision before the toss and India had decided that they would go in with four fast bowlers."

"Having said that, in the last couple of years, they have had success in the last couple of years with four pacers. They've won Test matches but if you ask me... if I was captaining - and every captain is different - Rohit and I think differently. I would find it very hard to keep a spinner out of Ashwin's quality out of the XI," he added.

Day 2 of the Test will begin at 3:00 pm IST. You can catch the live-action here.