Ashwin came into attack only a few minutes before the drinks break on Day 2 in Indore.
Ashwin, who played a key role in India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test wins in Nagpur and Delhi, came into the attack only a few minutes before the drinks break. By then, Peter Handcomb and Cameron Green had batted well to extend Australia's first-innings lead over 75 runs.
Gavaskar was not pleased by Rohit's tactics of perhaps paying more attention to the match-ups rather than focusing on the class of the bowler.
"I don't understand this too much focus on the match-up thing. Because there were two right-handers in the crease, Ashwin wasn't brought on till the last over before the drinks break. Because of those match-ups, the two left-armers bowled, then what happened? Who gets the breakthrough? Ravichandran Ashwin. He gets the wicket of Handscomb. He is a top player, he is going to get wickets, doesn't matter if it's a right-hander or a left-hander. He is a great bowler. Ashwin has 450-plus wickets and he should have been given the ball a lot earlier," Gavaskar said on Star Sports in the post-lunch session.
As soon as Ashwin was introduced into the attack, he provided India a breakthrough by dismissing Handscomb on 19. The No. 1 ranked Test bowler also got the scalps of Alex Carey and Nathan Lyon as India bounced back in the contest by bundling out Australia for 197, restricting their first-innings lead to 88 runs.
Continuing his critical analysis of Rohit's decision, Gavaskar further said: "You don't send a No.7 ahead of a No.3 just because he is maybe not good against spin or good against pace. You send the No.3 because he is good, he is a top batter. So what is this thing about bowlers? And Why does this happen regularly to Ashwin? That extra 20 runs could have been saved."