It was a Deja Vu moment for Ravichandran Ashwin after he missed out on playing yet another World Cup final after earlier missing the WTC final against Australia. However, the off-spinner does not have any regrets about missing the WC final, as he understood the thought process behind leaving him out on a spin-friendly Ahmedabad pitch.
“As far as I am concerned, I playing the final, team combination and all that is secondary. Firstly, it’s about empathy, I keep stressing it a lot. It’s about standing in someone else’s shoes and looking at things from his/her viewpoint. If I had been in Rohit’s shoes, I would have thought 100 times about changing the combination. It was going very well for the team. Why would I rest a fast bowler and play 3 spinners?” Ashwin said while speaking to S Badrinath on his YouTube Channel.
For the unversed, skipper Rohit Sharma did not want to tinker with the winning combination as India had won six straight games on the bounce. Although there were reports that Rohit might be tempted to play Ashwin as the third spinner on the Ahmedabad pitch, the skipper and head coach Rahul Dravid decided to go with the tired and tested formula of playing only two spinners, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.
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‘I was prepared mentally’ Ashwin opens about not in the playing XI in WC final
Ashwin also went on to elaborate that he was mentally prepared to be playing XI the final for three days, and was also ready to miss the opportunity if the team decided last minute on not to select him. Ashwin was in a similar position during the WTC final in June earlier this year. With the pitch being overcast only for the first day of the Test, India opted to play only one spinner in Jadeja in the WTC summit clash at the Oval.
“Honestly, I was able to understand the thought process of Rohit Sharma. Playing the final is a big opportunity. I was preparing for it for 3 days in the lead-up. I was not replying to a lot of people. I read only the ticker of WhatsApp messages and kept my phone away,” Ashwin said.
“I was preparing myself well for the opportunity. At the same time, I was prepared to cheer for the team and run in with electric if I didn’t get the opportunity. I was mentally prepared for that too,” the spinner concluded.
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