R Ashwin explained the reason behind MS Dhoni’s success as captain.© Twitter
Team India’s defeat to Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final didn’t go down well with the fans and several former players. It has been over a fortnight now since the heartbreaking loss at The Oval but the wounds are still fresh. The Rohit Sharma-led side was criticised for its team selection in the final. Notably, veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was dropped from the playing XI for the all-important showdown. Also, captain Rohit’s decision to bowl first on a flat track was questioned by several current and former players.
While analysing the match, Ashwin congratulated Australia on lifting the trophy, but said that the Pat Cummins-led side had a slight advantage in the final.
“Congratulations Australia! It was a fantastic final and they completely deserve the win. There was a small advantage although as few players like Marnus Labuschagne played a couple of matches in county cricket. That was a small one because in a one-Test shootout you can’t really say who will do what, but they thoroughly deserved it. Even in the last WTC cycle, they missed qualifying for the finals only by a whisker. They have been a consistent Test team like India,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
India not only lost the final but also missed out on an opportunity to end a 10-year ICC trophy drought.
India last won an ICC trophy in 2013 when MS Dhoni was the captain of the side. Since then, the side has lost four finals, including back-to-back WTC finals.
The 36-year-old shared his views on the social media posts which were shared to target the team. He also explained the reason behind Dhoni’s success as captain.
“It is understandable that there’s a furore in India that we haven’t won an ICC trophy in 10 years. I empathise with the fans. But the reaction on social media is that this player should be dropped and that player should be included. But quality of a player doesn’t change overnight. Lot of us talk about MS Dhoni’s leadership. What did he do? He kept it very simple. Under his regime, where I also played, he will pick a squad of 15. The same squad of 15 and the XI will play throughout the year. That sense of security is very important for a player,” he added.
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