'No other Indian cricketer has been treated as bafflingly as Ashwin': Gavaskar calls out Rohit, Dravid, Kohli, Shastri

On the Ashwin conundrum, Gavaskar has landed fresh punches on not only the current regime of Rohit and Dravid but their predecessors Kohli and Shastri as well.

It has been two days since India faced a humiliating 209-run defeat in the World Test Championship final against Australia, but with many still nursing the wounds of another painful squandering of an ICC trophy, the debates go on. Should India have batted first? What if Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid misread the conditions? Should it have been Ishan Kishan over KS Bharat? And most importantly… did India miss the trick by leaving out Ravichandran Ashwin, the No.1-ranked Test bowler, from their Playing XI?

Sunil Gavaskar has backed Ravichandran Ashwin to the hilt. (Getty Images)

Hindsight is a wonderful thing to ponder over, but matches aren't won on the 'what could have been'. And in Ashwin's case, it is as perplexing as it can get. He has over 470 Test wickets, is easily the best spinner in the world, was the third-highest leading wicket-taker in the recently-finished WTC cycle and remains a nightmare for left-handers, five of whom featured in the Australian line-up. Which is why Ashwin's omission fails logic. Taking nothing away from Ravindra Jadeja, Ashwin is all class and miles ahead of him as a spinner. Even the great Sachin Tendulkar acknowledged it.

As the Ashwin debate refuses to die down, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar, who has already once criticised the management for the controversial call, has landed fresh punches on not only the current regime of Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid but their predecessors Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri as well.

"India dropped Ravichandran Ashwin, the No. 1 ranked bowler in the game, according to the ICC rankings. The Australians had five left-handers in the team and while one leftie – Travis Head – scored a quickfire century in the first innings, another southpaw Alex Carey got a 48 in the first innings and an unbeaten 66 in the second. During that second innings effort, he also put on 93 runs with another left-hander Mitchell Starc at a time when India were looking to dismiss Australia cheaply in the second innings," Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

"If Ashwin had been in the team, who knows what could have happened. With the bat too, he could have contributed. No other top-class Indian cricketer in the modern era has been treated as bafflingly as Ashwin has been. Tell me if there was a No. 1 ICC-ranked batter in the team, would he have been left out of the playing XI just because in earlier times he had not got runs on a grassy pitch or if he had not scored runs on a dry spin-friendly pitch? Definitely not."

This was the sixth instance of Ashwin getting dropped in a Test in England. Previously, during India's five-Test series of UK in 2021, Ashwin was dropped from all five games at Trent Bridge, Lord's, Headingley, The Oval and the rescheduled series decider at Edgbaston in Birmingham the year later. This is a country where Ashwin's record isn't the most intimidating but neither abysmal – 18 wickets from 7 Tests. The last time he played there was during the 2021 WTC final where he grabbed four wickets and gave India hope in both innings. The same Ashwin, for all his credentials, failed to find a place when the conditions eased up for spinners on Day 4 and 5.

"In Ashwin's case, despite being the No.1 bowler, he is not always the first spinner to be brought on. Oh yes, there are reasons given that there were right-handers at the crease, so a left-handed spinner was given the ball or the wind was blowing in a certain direction or the bowler's follow through footmarks were for the left-handed spinner, etc as if Ashwin has only left-handed batters as his wickets," Gavaskar added.

"This is not being wise after the event, but a pattern that has been seen over the years. But for this 'hard to understand thinking' he would have already played more than 100 Test matches. The pitch on the fourth day eased out considerably and with the two most experienced batters in the team together, it could have been a gripping finish to the Ultimate Test match. Even if India were to win, it should not blind us to the treatment given to Ashwin and whatever the explanation that is given, the bowling results in the match where India have been asked to chase 444 tells us that dropping him was not the right call to make."