This was shortly before the start of the World Test Championship final, soon after the toss. I got a message on my phone which said: “High quality makes way for average quality. The best bowler in the world sits out, and Umesh (Yadav) is picked.” Social media was soon flooded with posts on the omission of Ravichandran Ashwin from the Indian XI for this massive match.
In hindsight, after watching the Indians bowl on the first day of this Test at The Oval, it is easy to say that this call was imprudent. After watching, anybody can make wise statements. Truth be told, forget hindsight, this was a shocker. You don’t bench the bowler ranked No. 1 in the ICC Test rankings for a match of this magnitude just like that.
Let’s explore why. Australia have five left-hand batters in their XI, including three in the top five. Everybody knows that like all off-spinners, Ashwin is strong against batters of that kind. In fact, he is possibly the spinner most feared by left-hand batters in contemporary cricket. Even on a bad day for him, he is capable of keeping them in check, if not getting a wicket or two.
Second, why pick four fast bowlers when not all of them are suited for English conditions? Mohammad Shami and Mohammad Siraj are blind choices, undoubtedly. Can the same be said of Shardul Thakur and Umesh? The latter, especially, is more useful on hard wickets and abrasive surfaces where reverse swing becomes a factor. England is not his kind of territory.
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Now, let’s come to some statistics, which are not necessarily sacrosanct, but handy indicators at times. In the previous WTC final against New Zealand in Southampton in 2021, Ashwin had a match haul of 4-45. The rest of the Indian attack returned combined figures of 8-313. The reward? Ashwin has not played a Test in England since. India have played six, including this WTC final.
A few more statistics. In this WTC cycle, Nathan Lyon is the most successful bowler with 83 scalps in 32 innings at an average of 26.97. Second is Kagiso Rabada with 67 wickets in 22 innings at 21.05. Ashwin is third with 61 wickets from 26 innings at 19.67. Plus, he is the world’s No. 1 Test bowler, who has a history of tormenting Australian batters, especially Steve Smith.
Do you leave out such a bowler just because the pitch was green and the sky dark? Does a team play to its strengths, or just the conditions? Yes, it looked very much in favour of fast bowlers before the match started, but India do not have four horseman of the Apocalypse like the West Indies teams of the past. There was bounce in the pitch, which Ashwin thrives on. He would have enjoyed that. Ask the Australians, who they least preferred to face on this kind of a surface? Ashwin, Shardul or Umesh?
Ironically, the Indians bowled against Smith with a 7-2 on-side field during one passage of play. Under the circumstances, this was a valid ploy. But the person who could have taken optimum advantage of this was seen sitting in the pavilion with the other benched players. It’s too early to say how costly the move to overlook Ashwin could be, but on the face of it, it looked odd. Very odd.
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