Michael Vaughan points out India's biggest mistake in the ICC WTC final

Former England captain Michael Vaughan took twitter to point out India's mistake in the ICC WTC final.

India are taking on Australia in the World test championship final with a different combination than they were expected to play with. India are playing with 4 pace bowlers and a spinner in the WTC final. They have preferred Ravindra Jadeja as their lone spinner in the game and have dropped Ravi Ashwin from the eleven. There were a lot of discussions around India’s team selection, especially with what combination will India prefers. Now, former English captain Michael Vaughan has highlighted Ashwin’s absence as one of the big mistakes. In place of Ashwin, India picked Shardul Thakur as a handy lower-order batter as well as a crucial partnership breaker with his movement of the pitch. 

Ashwin's exclusion a mistake?

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has tweeted, “No Ravi Ashwin for India is a big mistake”. Ravi Ashwin has been a crucial match-winner for team India. The Oval wicket could have been a decent place for Ravi Ashwin as an off-spinner. Weather will remain clear with only a few spells of overcast conditions, this will also make the track good for batting as the game progresses. Ashwin could have been a great option against the Australian middle order with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. Captain Rohit also said at the toss that leaving Ashwin was not an easy decision for the management.

India played with two spinners in the 2021 WTC final against New Zealand but the result didn’t come in their favour. Ravi Ashwin has played 7 tests in England and picked up 18 wickets with a strike rate of 66.7. Ashwin is also India’s leading wicket-taker in the ICC World Test championship. In 27 tests in both the WTC cycles, Ashwin picked up 132 wickets. Most of these wickets have come in Indian dry wickets. At the lunch break, Australia are standing in a decent position with 73/2.  Both the openers, David Warner (43) & Usman Khawaja (0) are back in the dressing room. Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj have picked up one wicket each.