'We weren't able to do that': R Ashwin reveals to big personal regret in current WTC cycle

The cricketing world would witness two heavyweights of the world cricket take on each other for one of the biggest crowns in Test cricket. The Indian cricket team will be up against the Australian side in the final of the World Test Championship to take place from June 7, 2023, at the Kennington Oval ground in London. Ahead of the all-important WTC final, Indian veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin believes that qualifying for the final is no mean feat for him. 

The Indian off-spinner while speaking to ICC said that the transition of the Indian Test cricket began from the day former captain MS Dhoni retired from the format. "The turnaround definitely started in 2014. MS Dhoni had just retired and we had all played for a few Tests, probably 2013 Tests, pretty early on and we had to start a journey of our own", R Ashwin said. 

READ: WTC Final: BCCI rewards Indian youngster, names him as replacement for Ruturaj Gaikwad

R Ashwin opens up on team India's back-to-back WTC finals

READ: We can talk about not playing warm-up game ahead of WTC final only in hindsight: Alex Carey

"Never easy without the seniors, but I can comfortably say that all the efforts we have put in have come really to fruition over the last two cycles of WTC. We are qualifying for the second time on the trot [to the WTC finals]. It is no mean feat. We would have loved to win the series in India 3-1 or 3-0 or whatever it is but Australia played some good cricket. We weren't able to do that. However, for the consistent cricket, we have played, we've been rewarded with this final", R Ashwin added. 

Returning to India vs Australia WTC final, the Indian team under the leadership of Rohit Sharma will be playing its second consecutive final as last time they got defeated by New Zealand in the year 2021. The number-ranked Test team would like to win an ICC title after almost ten years and they would like to prove their dominance in the longest format of the game. 

Australia on the other hand has also been playing good Test cricket off late but got defeated by Team India in March 2023, during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.