No Top-Class Indian Cricketer Has Been Treated As Bafflingly As Ashwin Has Been: Gavaskar

Ashwin, despite being the top-ranked Test bowler in the world, failed to make it to India's Playing XI for the ICC WTC Final 2023.

Ravichandran Ashwin of India sits in the dugout during day one of the ICC World Test Championship Final between Australia and India at The Oval on June 07, 2023 in London, England.

Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has come hard on the Indian team players and the management following Team India's second straight defeat in an ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final. Gavaskar questioned the shot-selection of the Indian batters on Day 5 when the team lost all their remaining 7 wickets inside the first session even as Indian fans hoped for a fight and an oustide chance of a win. And now Gavaskar has gone on to share his views on the exclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin from India's Playing XI in the WTC final.

While Sachin Tendulkar had also said that he failed to understand why the world's top-ranked Test bowler Ashwin was not included in the side, Gavaskar has gone a step further said to say that not a single top-class performer in the history of Indian cricket has received the kind of baffling treatment that the veteran India off-spinner has. He made this statement in his latest column for Mid-Day.

"No other top-class Indian cricketer in the modern era has been treated as bafflingly as Ashwin has been. Tell me if there was a No. 1 ICC-ranked batter in the team, would he have been left out of the playing XI just because in earlier times he had not got runs on a grassy pitch or if he had not scored runs on a dry spin-friendly pitch? Definitely not," he wrote.

"This is not being wise after the event, but a pattern that has been seen over the years. But for this ‘hard to understand thinking’ he would have already played more than 100 Test matches," the 73-year-old added.

In the absence of Ashwin, India conceded 469 runs in the first innings after inviting Australia to bat first in overcast conditions in London. Ravindra Jadeja, India's only spin-bowling option, picked 1 for 56 before a 3/58 in the second innings. He also scored a more than useful 48 off 51 in the first innings.