Sunil Gavaskar on Ravichandran Ashwin: Sunil Gavaskar, the former opener of the Indian cricket team and veteran batsman of his era, believes that no other top cricketer in India has been treated like off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.
Significantly, in the final match of the World Test Championship, the world’s number one Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin was not included in the playing eleven. Many veterans including Gavaskar consider this as the reason for India’s defeat in this oval. The decision to keep Ashwin out of the final was termed wrong by many former cricketers of India and Australia.
Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-day, “No other top-class Indian cricketer in the modern era has been treated like Ashwin”. Did not give place, whereas the Australian team had five left-handed batsmen and it was they who gave Australia the victory. Travis Head’s century in the first innings and Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc’s innings in the second innings. Everyone knows that Ashwin can hit left-handed batsmen quickly. Let’s get out.”
He further wrote, “Had Ashwin been in the team, who knows what could have happened. He could have contributed with the bat as well. What if the number 1 batsman in the ICC rankings was in the team and he was dropped just because Had he not scored runs on a green top wicket or a spinner-friendly wicket before? I can say with confidence, that doesn’t happen.”
Significantly, Ashwin has taken 474 wickets in 92 matches of his Test career at an average of 23.93 and a strike-rate of 51.84. During this, he has taken 5 or more wickets in an innings 32 times. Ignoring these figures, Ashwin was ignored in the final of the World Test Championship. Earlier, even during the Test series in England, Ashwin was not included in the playing eleven.
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