The much-awaited World Test Championship (WTC) Final between India and Australia began on Wednesday at the Oval in London. India skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bowl first in the summit clash.
Rohit went with four fast bowlers and one spin-cum all-rounder in the form of Ravindra Jadeja, leaving out the experienced campaigner Ravichandran Ashwin. Notably, Ashwin is currently world’s number one bowler and number two all-rounder, still India decided to keep the Chennai-born cricketer out of their final XI.
Rohit spoke about the eye-catching decision and acknowledged that it was a difficult choice because Ashwin has been a match-winner for the team for a long time. He recognized Ashwin’s contributions to the team’s success over the years and explained that the decision was made based on the specific conditions and requirements of the match.
Rohit reckoned the team management felt that Jadeja’s skills and abilities were better suited to the given conditions.
“The spinner is Jadeja. It’s always tough (to leave Ashwin), he’s been a match-winner for us over the course of so many years. It’s not a great occasion to leave him out. but you got to do the things that’s needed for the team in the given conditions and eventually we came up with that decision,” said Rohit during the toss.
India’s Playing XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
Australia’s Playing XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
For the unversed, Ashwin has taken 474 wickets in 92 Test matches at an average of 23.93, including 32 five-wicket hauls and ten 10-wicket hauls.
