Ravi Ashwin breaks his silence on not being included in India XI in the ICC WTC final

Ravi Ashwin, who was India's highest wicket-taker in the 2021-23 WTC cycle, was left out of India XI in the Final.

Team India suffered a thrashing defeat in the recently concluded World Test Championship 2023 final at the Oval against Australia. Pat Cummins-led team beat India by a massive margin of 209 runs to clinch the World Test Champions title. This was another defeat for India in an ICC final. After the defeat, the Indian team and management faced a backlash for not picking the No. 1 ranked test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin in the team.

Notably, Ravi Ashwin was India's highest wicket-taker in the WTC cycle 2021-23. He was one of the prime reasons that India qualifier for their second consecutive WTC final and also was the highest wicket-taker in the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia at home ahead of the IPL 2023. Many former Indian cricketers criticized India's decision of leaving him out in an ultimate test. However, the veteran off-spinner has finally opened up on his omission.

Ravi Ashwin opens up on his exclusion from the World Test Championship 2023 Final

The decision of dropping the veteran off-spinner somehow didn't work in India's favor, which was one of the reason that Rohit Sharma and Co. faced backlash by the Cricket fraternity. Finally, Ashwin has opened up on his omission from the ultimate test match. In an interview with Indian Express and Hindu, he said that he would have loved to play and has done well in overseas test for India.

He also said that India drew the last test series in England 2-2 with four pacers and one spinner template, that's who India went into the final. Ravi Ashwin said, "For me, it’s not a setback. It’s just a stumbling block, I’ll move on because I have gone through that. Whether you are at your peak or not, it is still a setback. The fact that you need to learn how to deal with it is very important. To look inwards and say ‘okay, somebody is judging me’ is foolishness. I’m a lot more chilled than I used to be."

Notably, India also benched him in all five test of the last series India played in England. Ashwin has played seven tests in English conditions and took 18 wickets. His last test in England was the WTC final 2021 against New Zealand where he picked four wickets. However, the veteran spinner also revealed that he knew 48 hours prior that he would not feature in the playing XI of ICC WTC 2023 final. He said, "I knew I was going to be left out 48 hours before. So for me, my entire goal was to make sure I can contribute to the guys and help us win a title because I played a part in it (getting to the final). A lot of people marketed me and positioned me that I am an overthinker. A person who will get 15-20 matches on the go doesn't have to be mentally overthinking."