WTC Final | Hayden, Ponting slam India's decision to drop Ashwin
The Hindu
Australian greats Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting have slammed India’s decision to drop premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the World Test Championship final against Australia
Australian greats Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting have slammed India's decision to drop premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the World Test Championship final against Australia.
Ashwin, who is the No. 1 bowler in Test cricket and India's leading wicket-taker in the 2021-23 WTC cycle, was dropped as the Rohit Sharma-led side bolstered the pace ammunition by playing four seamers.
"I feel that Ravichandran Ashwin is such a key factor, the leading wicket taker in the Tests cycle is not there. There are a few factors worth pondering on in Team India's perspective," Hayden told ICC after the day one's proceedings.
In the absence of Ashwin, left-armer Ravindra Jadeja is the sole spinner in the playing XI and he went wicketless as India struggled to break the 251-run partnership between Travis Head (146 batting) and Steve Smith (95 batting).
With Head's blistering century, his first in England, combined with Smith's resolute show Australia took the day one honours with 327/3 on the board.
World Cup-winning captain Ponting termed Ashwin's exclusion a "mistake".
"So far for me, it looks like it was a mistake from them by playing the four seamers, but we will see how the game pans out," Ponting told the ICC.
Tackling a peculiar situation, arising in the case of a cross-border adoption of a child, which is not envisaged in Indian laws, the High Court of Karnataka directed the Union government to stretch its magnanimity and validate the adoption of a Ugandan child by a non-resident Indian (NRI) couple, who adopted the child with the approval of the High Court of Uganda as per the laws of that country.
School Education Principal Secretary Praveen Prakash on March 28 (Thursday) instructed the District Education Officers to ensure that digital infrastructure such as smart TVs, computers, Interactive Flat Panels, projectors and other devices were in good condition, in view of the TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign Language) scheduled to be held on April 10 and 12.