Ashwin reopens WTC final wounds with cheeky ‘Dhoni’ message to Rohit, Dravid

It has been over a fortnight now since the heartbreak in the World Test Championship final. But the wounds are still fresh, especially for Ravichandran Ashwin, who was first ignored for the playing XI by the team management and later had to watch his side go down by an emphatic margin of 209 runs as Australia emerged as champions.

The loss prolonged India’s wait for another ICC trophy as the team incurred a second successive defeat in a WTC final. With the furore among fans still over India’s fate and the blame game alive after Ashwin’s viral revelations in an interview post the snub, the veteran Indian offie sent out, probably, a last message to captain Rohit Sharma and head coach Rahul Dravid with a “MS Dhoni” remark.

Ashwin has remained India’s highest wicket-taker in WTC final over the last two cycles. 61 wickets were picked by him in the recent-concluded edition as he claimed the No.1 spot in ICC Test rankings among bowlers. Yet the usual overseas debate led to India opting for an extra seamer over Ashwin in the final, which later backfired.

Speaking on his YouTube show, Ashwin started off by congratulating the Pat Cummins-led side, opining that the team “thoroughly deserved” to win the final where they did have a “small advantage”.

He explained: “Congratulations Australia! It was a fantastic final and they completely deserve the win. There was a small advantage although as 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 then spoke about the social-media reactions aimed at the Indian team for losing yet another chance at ending their ICC trophy drought where most had come up with posts on Dhoni, who had led India to three ICC trophy wins. The 36-year-old explained that the reason behind Dhoni’s success was the sense of security he gave to the players in the squad that was picked.

“It is understandable that there’s a furore in India that we haven’t won an ICC 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 quality of a player doesn’t change overnight. Lot of us talk about MS Dhoni’s leadership. What did he do? Ge 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 throughput the year. That sense of security is very important for a player,” he said.

This is the second time in two weeks were Ashwin has spoken up on the importance of instilling a “sense of security” in the mind of a player. In his recent interview with Indian Express, he talked about the “overthinker” name tag given to him explaining that it was only natural for him to be “traumatised” and “overthink” given that he knew he will get only two chances compared to a player who is certain to stay relaxed when assured with a longer run.

He had said: “A lot of people marketed me and positioned me that I am an overthinker. A person who will get 15-20 matches on the go doesn’t have to be mentally overthinking. A person who knows that they will get only two games will be traumatised and will be overthinking because it’s my job. It’s my journey. So this is what suits me. If somebody is going to tell me, ‘you’re going to play 15 matches, you will be looked after, you will be this, you are responsible for players, you are in the leadership role, I won’t be overthinking. Why would I?”