World Cup | India vs Afghanistan: Gavaskar fumes over Ashwin’s omission
India chose to leave out Ashwin and bring in Shardul Thakur. This was the only change to the Playing XI from the previous game.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar on Wednesday (October 11) did not hide his anger towards the Indian team management after off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was left out of the Playing XI for the ICC World Cup 2023 match against Afghanistan in Delhi.
On Sunday (October 8), India launched their World Cup 2023 campaign with a win over Australia. In that game in Chennai, all three spinners – Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Ashwin had played and done exceptionally well, restricting the opponents to 199.
The trio of Jadeja, Kuldeep and Ashwin shared six wickets between them in their 30 overs and had bowled more than 100 dot balls, going for only 104 runs.
On Wednesday, India chose to leave out Ashwin and bring in Shardul Thakur. This was the only change to the Playing XI against Afghanistan. This move was questioned by former India captain Gavaskar, who also said that Mohammed Shami should have played in Delhi.
“Once again Ashwin misses out, I don't know what he has done wrong. He is used to being left out of the team. It is only going to make him more determined. I thought what Shami had done against them (Afghanistan) in 2019, getting a hat-trick, he would get a go,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Last month, Gavaskar had said that Ashwin’s experience and “canniness” will play big part in India’s World Cup campaign.
“… Ashwin with his experience and his canniness will play as a key factor. I’m not sure if they will play him in the XI for the big matches but he is the kind if bowler who can actually get you wickets in the middle overs, and that doesn't allow partnerships to build and subsequently, a team can be restricted to a low total,” Gavaskar had said on Star Sports.
After India’s win against Australia, India captain Rohit Sharma had indicated that the team combination would be based on conditions.
"That will be the biggest challenge moving forward because we will play in different conditions. (We) might have to change combinations too and as a team we are prepared to do that,” Rohit had said.
