CricketWTC final: India bowling coach Mhambrey defends decision to drop Ashwin
The much-awaited ICC World Test Final Championship match between India and Australia started yesterday. The Indian side won the toss and decided to bowl first. During the toss, skipper Rohit Sharma mentioned that they had dropped one of their best bowlers, Ravichandran Ashwin, for the match due to pitch conditions. While batting first, Australia lost three early wickets, but Travis Head and Steve Smith built a good partnership afterwards, with Head scoring a century as well.
Mhambrey on dropping Ashwin
As Australia built 327 runs on the first day, many questions regarding Ashwin’s drop from the team were raised because he is indeed the world’s number one bowler. India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey defended this question and said, “It was a tough decision to drop him, but it was purely based on the circumstances. It has been cold and cloudy at The Oval, especially in the mornings. Dropping a champion bowler like him was not easy, but looking at the conditions in the morning, we thought an extra fast bowler would be favourable.
Decision was made considering conditions- Coach
After Australia reached the score of 327 runs while batting, Mhambrey said, ” The fast bowlers have done well for us here. You can always look back and say that having an extra spinner would have been beneficial, but we made the decision considering the situation and conditions here.
When Mhambrey was asked what kind of conversations take place with the player who is not included in the playing eleven, he said, “When there are team discussions, we talk about the composition. We trained here for three to four days before the game, saw the wickets, and talked to the players. They understand the importance of team combinations as well. The coach believes that India can definitely make a comeback in the game.
India lacked discipline after few overs
Today’s morning session will be important for team India because Australia’s batsmen Smith and Head are already set on the field, so the bowlers need to take wickets, if they want be back in the game. The coach talked about Umesh Yadav and said he has no fitness issues.
On the first day of the game, Umesh bowled only 14 overs, so there were assumptions regarding his fitness as well but the coach cleared the speculation . He also felt that bowlers could have done better and could have been more disciplined because after few overs, there was a lack of discipline. The team gave away more runs, the coach said, adding that they could have adopted a short ball strategy than before.
