There was severe criticism of the Indian cricket team for dropping Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing eleven in the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia.
The veteran allrounder has opened up on the snub, highlighting how the decision made an impact on his psychology.
During an interaction with The Indian Express, Ashwin said that being dropped from the WTC Final was a “stumbling block” for him.
The 36-year-old also dug out some past instances when he had to struggle a lot to find a place in the Indian squad. “It’s (being dropped from WTC final) just a stumbling block, I’ll move on because I have gone through that. When somebody knocks you down for the first time, you have a knee-jerk reaction,” Ashwin told the publication.
Ashwin was India’s leading wicket-taker during the 2022 WTC cycle with 61 scalps to his name. Considering the nature of the wicket at the Oval, where the WTC final was hosted, India were expected to play with a lone spinner with Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja being the two options.
Jadeja was preferred ahead of Ashwin.
Although, it is not the first time when Ashwin has been ignored by the selectors.
Since making his India debut in 2010, Ashwin’s international career has gone through enough turbulence. Once a constant on the teamsheet, he was dropped from the white-ball squad in 2017 along with Jadeja as the selectors wanted to try two wristspinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal.
While Jadeja was able to make a comeback in 2019, Ashwin had to wait longer. Even in the longest format, Ashwin was frequently ignored whenever India played an overseas Test series.
Highlighting his earlier struggles, Ashwin revealed that the tag “overthinker” was created to work against him.
He further said it was unfair to label an individual as an overthinker because other people won’t get the struggles of their journey.
Not only Ashwin but his family was also affected by his struggles. “My father is stressed. It’s very easy for me to go out and play because it is in my control. But for my father, it is not. He goes through double the trauma that I do,” he said.
Ashwin is India’s second-highest wicket-taker in the longest format. He has so far appeared in 92 Tests and has taken 474 wickets at an average of 23.93. He has also played 113 ODIs and 65 T20Is, fetching 151 and 72 scalps respectively.
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