Indian captain Rohit Sharma on the match-eve press conference had talked about not repeating mistakes of 2021.
But going by the first day’s performance, the Indian think-tank seemed to have miscalculated again on the Playing XI by excluding Ravichandran Ashwin.
India won the toss and bowled first on a green pitch under grey sky. They also reduced Australia to 76-3, but things weren’t that rosy after the Baggy Greens ended the day’s play at 327-3 and, that’s ominous.
Last summer, India were in a similar situation in the one-off Test against England. On that occasion, they omitted Ashwin, ranked as the world’s number one bowler, and paid heavy price.
Perhaps they are aware of their experience in the previous Championship final against New Zealand. India paired Ashwin with Jadeja in Southampton and lost to the Kiwis in 2021.
Experience counts and Ashwin has it in plenty particularly in such English conditions.
Seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur was preferred to the Chennai bowler. Though Thakur had David Warner caught down the leg side, he and fellow pace bowler Umesh Yadav lacked the bite in their bowling in stark contrast to Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj.
India have not won any ICC tournament for 10 years and if the Aussies continue to pile on runs today, victory in this final could be beyond reach.
If their bowlers fail to take early wickets on day two, it’s going to be a difficult task for Team India.
