Harbhajan Singh gives his verdict on India leaving out R Ashwin from WTC Final playing XI

IND vs AUS: India have gone ahead with four pacers in the WTC 2023 Final. Ravichandran Ashwin couldn't be accommodated in the starting XI of the World Test Championship Final against Australia due to the conditions at the Oval as said by skipper Rohit Sharma. There were doubts about whether Rohit Sharma would gamble with two spinners on this green surface which is destined to offer help to the seamers. Shardul Thakur was called in place of the veteran spinner and it remains to be seen whether the move pays off or backfires. Interestingly Ravichandran Ashwin is the top-ranked bowler as dfar as the Test format is concerned.

Harbhajan Singh was not surprised to see India opting to include Shardul instead of the former Chennai Super Kings spinner. Ashwin has been one of the stalwarts in the longest format and leaving him out of the starting lineup was a brave decision. Harbhajan stated he's not surprised to see the Indian lineup in the WTC 2023 Final. 

Harbhajan Singh gives his verdict on India dropping R Ashwin

During an interaction with Star Sports, the veteran spinner said, “I am not exactly surprised looking at these conditions. Either you play R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja. Unfortunately, R Ashwin misses out from this team. Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and the top five and six look very very good."

Read More: WTC Final, IND vs AUS Live Score

The winner of the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup also added that he thought Ishan Kishan would be preferred ahead of KS Bharat who has been a consistent presence behind the wicket. “We were thinking Ishan Kishan might get a nod ahead of Bharat, but that didn’t happen. But it’s good to see India playing with four seamers." Indian captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to send Australia to bat first in an overcast condition.

WTC final playing XIs

Australia XI: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

India XI: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj