"India have fallen into the trap of picking an attack for the 1st inning only" - Ricky Ponting slams decision to drop R. Ashwin for WTC Final
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has criticized Rohit Sharma and Team India's decision to drop Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing XI for the World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Oval.
Team India opted to play four seamers, including Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav, and leave out Ashwin due to the green tinge on the surface as well as the overcast conditions. Ravindra Jadeja claimed the spot as the sole frontline spinner.
Ponting felt India made a shortsighted call as Ashwin would have been a handful for Australia in the second innings.
"India have fallen into the trap of picking an attack for the first inning of this Test match only. The reason why I was surprised that Ashwin was left out is because of the number of left-handers Australia have. There's no doubt in my mind that Ashwin would have bowled a lot better than Jadeja later on in the Test," Ponting said on air during commentary.
"The big decision that they had to make was between Thakur and Umesh. I was leaning towards Thakur because he would be my workhorse to give a bit of a break to the strike bowlers Shami and Siraj. You can go to Jadeja for a couple of overs just to tie the game down a bit," he added.
Spin is yet to be introduced in the contest as the Indian pacers are having a serious go with the new Dukes ball after asking Australia to bat first. Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, and Shardul Thakur have taken a wicket apiece so far in little over a session's play.
"The bowlers will have to accept that they are gonna get driven every now and then" - Ricky Ponting
Team India seamers were mostly on point in the first hour of play in overcast conditions. Siraj delivered the first breakthrough by dismissing Usman Khawaja for a duck in the fourth over of the innings.
Indian bowlers have tried to pitch it fuller at times but did not reap awards as they were not consistent enough. Shami breached Labuschagne's defense with a full delivery right after the session break.
Assessing the performance of the Indian seamers in the first session, Ponting said:
"If India had bowled really well then 60 percent would have been on the fuller side and 20 percent on a good length. I made a point earlier, the bowlers will have to accept that they are gonna get driven every now and then. What the captain can do is maybe have his mid-off and mid-on straighter and deeper which just gives the bowlers encouragement to pitch it up."
Australia are currently placed at 89-3 after 27 overs on Day 1 of the WTC final.
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