Team India were outplayed by Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final earlier this month, losing the match by a huge margin of 209 runs.
Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who occupies the numero uno spot in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers, was left out of the playing XI as India fielded four pacers and a spinner in Ravindra Jadeja considering the overcast conditions and green-tinged pitch at The Oval.
The move to drop Ashwin triggered an outrage in the cricket fraternity and former India women's team skipper Anjum Chopra found it baffling as well.
"Absolutely! I definitely felt that. In fact, my playing XI did have (Ravichandran) Ashwin there. I'm not saying that you can't play four pacers, it's nothing of that sort, but I always felt that irrespective of the conditions, had India lost the toss and we were asked to bat, we would have struggled to think, 'Oh! Now what do we do?' I'm pretty sure that the team management thought through the decision," Anjum told News18.
"As a player, I would have always kept Ashwin in that line-up, just because, I think he is a quality bowler and irrespective of the conditions, he can deliver the goods. And he's absolutely in isolation, just looking at his skill level and the records the Indian team has had with him in the playing XI," she added.
Earlier this year, Ashwin played a key role in India’s 2-1 Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph at home. He finished the four-match Test series against Australia with 25 scalps and deservingly earned the Player-of-the-Series award.
In a recent interview with The Indian Express, Ashwin also spoke about his exclusion from the WTC final.
"It's a hard question to answer, right? Because we are standing right after the WTC Final. I would have loved to play because I have played a part in us getting there. Even in the last final I got four wickets and bowled really well. Ever since 2018-19, my bowling overseas has been fantastic and I have managed to win games for the team," Ashwin stated.
"I am looking at it as a captain or coach and I'm just talking in hindsight, in their defence. So the last time when we were in England, it was 2-2 with a drawn Test and they would have felt 4 pacers and 1 spinner is the combination in England. That is what they might have thought going into the final," he added.
