WTC Final 2023 India vs Australia: Why Team India preferred Ravindra Jadeja over R Ashwin at The Oval

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India captain Rohit Sharma after winning the toss in the highly-anticipated World Test Championships (WTC) 2023 Final on Wednesday (June 7) at The Oval and invited Australia skipper Pat Cummins to bat first.

After winning a crucial toss in London Rohit revealed that he has gone with four pacers and just one spinner in the Playing 11. There were opinions that Team India should go with their premier spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in an all-important encounter.

However, the Indian skipper informed Nasser Hussain after the coin toss that they will play with just one spinner and Ravindra Jadeja has been given a preference over R Ashwin.

As has been a norm with Team India on overseas Tests, coach Rahul Dravid's side has elected to go with a pace-heavy bowling line-up and Jadeja as the sole spinner in the match.

What Rohit Sharma said about excluding R Ashwin?

(We are playing with) Four seamers and one spinner. The spinner is Jadeja. It's always tough to leave Ashwin, he's been a match-winner for us over the course of so many years. But you got to do the things that are needed for the team and eventually, we came up with that decision.

Looking at the overcast conditions in London - where seamers tend to do well traditionally due to good swinging conditions - Rohit's decision didn't look bad either because his opposite number, Pat Cummins, was also looking to bowl first.

India's Playing 11 in WTC Final: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.

What Experts Said About India's Decision?

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly - who is part of the commentary panel in the WTC Final - backed Rohit Sharma's decision to bowl first.

"It is a good toss to win for the Indian skipper. Rohit couldn't have asked for a better start and the decision to go with just one spinner is governed by the overcast conditions over the London sky. You've got to feel for R Ashwin but when you don't have the luxury of playing with two spinners, Jadeja looks a better option."

Former Australia cricketer, Ricky Ponting begged to differ with Ganguly's opinion and claimed Ashwin would have been a very important player for them as the match progresses.

"Now that they've won the toss and bowled, they want to do some damage with this new ball. Because as this game goes on, I think it will turn and they would've wanted Ashwin to spin this ball away from the Australia left-handers, and he's not there," said former Australia captain on Channel Seven.

Team India went with four pacers i.e. Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Shardul Thakur in the playing eleven. KS Bharat emerged as the first choice for the wicketkeeper and pipped Ishan Kishan.