Sunil Gavaskar fumes as Rohit Sharma snubs R. Ashwin and says, "Don't know what he has done wrong"
Team India made a huge change in their playing XI for the second match after an amazing victory over Australia in their opening Cricket World Cup 2023 match by swapping Ravichandran Ashwin for Shardul Thakur in the team. After India skipper Rohit Sharma announced the news at the time of the toss, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar couldn't hide his frustration at seeing Ashwin being sacrificed once again. In a chat with the broadcaster, Gavaskar admitted that he isn't sure what Ashwin has done wrong to be in such a situation.
In fact, Gavaskar also rued the absence of Mohammed Shami from India's playing XI, especially considering the fact that he had taken a hat-trick against the same team in 2019.
Gavaskar:Once again, Ashwin misses out; I don't know what he has done wrong. He is used to being left out of the team. I thought what Shami had done against them (Afghanistan) in 2019, getting a hat-trick, he would get a go.”
India lost the toss and was asked by Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi to field first.
After the toss, Rohit said, "We were looking to bat second. We saw the amount of dew last evening. Don't think the wicket will change much. I need to bowl well and need to come back and bat better. We were under pressure against Australia to start with, but KL and Kohli batted well; they were magnificent, and we take a lot of pride in our performance. It was a good game for us; hopefully we can repeat that and keep the momentum going forward. Ashwin misses out; Shardul Thakur comes in for him.”