'Under his regime...' - Ravichandran Ashwin breaks silence on getting dropped from WTC final with 'MS Dhoni' reference

The Indian cricket team were excepted to break their 10-year drought to win a major trophy in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final at the Oval. Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen as Australia handed a 209-run loss to India on June 11 to win their first-ever WTC final. However, the Men in Blue had a 2nd chance to win the title but they failed to capitalise on it.

Meanwhile, India’s veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was surprisingly left out of the WTC final squad, has talked about India’s loss and said that the Australian team had a slight advantage as according to Ashwin few Australian players played some matches in the County cricket which helped them to adapt the conditions.

"Congratulations Australia! It was a fantastic final and they completely deserve the win. There was a small advantage although a few players like Marnus Labuschagne played a couple of matches in county cricket. That was a small one because, in a one-Test shootout, you can't really say who will do what, but they thoroughly deserved it. Even in the last WTC cycle, they missed qualifying for the finals only by a whisker. They have been a consistent Test team like India," Ashwin was quoted as saying by NDTV Sports.

The quality of a player doesn't change overnight - Ashwin

However, Ashwin also broke the silence on getting benched in the WTC final. He gave an example of former legendary Indian captain MS Dhoni and said that there used to be a set number of players in the squad who plays throughout the year under him.

"It is understandable that there's a furore in India that we haven't won a major trophy in 10 years. I empathise with the fans. But the reaction on social media is that this player should be dropped and that player should be included. But the quality of a player doesn't change overnight. A lot of us talk about MS Dhoni's leadership. What did he do? He kept it very simple. Under his regime, where I also played, he will pick a squad of 15. The same squad of 15 and the XI will play throughout the year. That sense of security is very important for a player," he said.