“India should have picked Ashwin, made a mistake in assessing the pitch”

Former batter Sanjay Manjrekar feels India made a mistake by dropping No.1-ranked Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia. According to Manjrekar, India perhaps erred in assessing the pitch at The Oval, which is why they went in with four seamers.

India’s decision to drop Ashwin from the playing XI for the WTC final, which began on Wednesday, led to a major debate, with most critics questioning the call. The criticism grew after Australia ended Day 1 of the Test on a dominating 327/3 after being asked to bat first.

While reviewing the opening day’s play, Manjrekar opined that India got a couple of things wrong and paid the price for the same.

He told ESPNcricinfo during a discussion:

“I feel India should have picked Ashwin. It was not a green top as such. There was grass on the surface, but the soil below it was white, which means it was dry. I feel India made a mistake in assessing the pitch.

“If they had kept a simple mindset that they must play quality bowlers, then Ashwin would have been in the team.”

Manjrekar, however, refused to be critical of India’s decision to bowl first. The 57-year-old explained that there have been instances in the past when teams have bowled out opponents for 180 and then dominated Test matches.

“There is an advantage when there is help from the surface on Day 1. A lot of times a scenario is possible where you can bundle out the opposition for 180 and then dominate with the bat as the pitch has improved by then. You can then score 300-plus and take a big lead and have the upper hand in the Test match,” he explained.

India began well with the ball, reducing Australia to 76/3 at the start of the 25th over. However, Travis Head (146* off 156) and Steven Smith (95* off 227) added an unbroken 251 to lift the Aussies.

“We need to give credit to the Australian batters” - Manjrekar

Several cricket pundits were critical of India’s bowling performance on Day 1 of the WTC final. However, according to Manjrekar, credit must be given to Australian batters for keeping the Indian bowlers at bay.

Stating that the Aussie fightback was not on unexpected lines, he elaborated:

“There is depth in Australia’s batting and they have many in-form batters. India did well to dismiss Usman Khawaja, David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne. But Steve Smith is a great batter and is in great form. Travis Head is also in great form. There is Cameron Green to come as well.

“It was going to be a challenge for India against a strong Aussie batting line-up. Their fightback was somewhat on expected lines. We need to give credit to the Australian batters. The pitch also became easy to bat on after the first session.”

Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, and Shardul Thakur claimed one wicket each for India on Day 1 of the WTC final, while Ravindra Jadeja and Umesh Yadav went wicketless.