The rescheduled fifth Test between England and India is finally underway at Edgbaston, Birmingham. Jasprit Bumrah became only the second Indian pacer after Kapil Dev to lead the side in a Test match. Meanwhile, it was England who won the toss and opted to field first.
To everyone’s surprise, Ravichandran Ashwin’s name was not on the team sheet. Twitter vent out their frustration and called out the management for excluding the veteran spinner.
Check out some of the reactions here:
Jadeja ahead of Ashwin & this what balanced the XI.!Hope those who were reporting those ego problem between Ashwin & Kohli will understand it.!
— Deep Point (@ittzz_spidey) July 1, 2022
Can't see boomer uncles tweets bashing bumrah – dravid and creating conspiracy theories for not playing ashwin
— A (@_shortarmjab_) July 1, 2022
Btw where's the shame Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli, for not playing Ravi Ashwin??? Ehhh.
Oh sorry… No Kohli-Shastri in power, no blame games. ?
— Jaanvi? (@ThatCric8Girl) July 1, 2022
Hope propagradists will now understand that was not some ego issue of Virat Kohli for which he didn't select Ashwin in the XI during last series. It was based on sound Cricketing logic, which is now being used as a template even by Rahul Dravid himself.
— Ricky talks Cricket (@CricRicky) July 1, 2022
Feel for R Ashwin.Why take him all the way if you are not going to play him in the eleven? He could have played in the TNPL,at least.
Against an aggressive English batting, esp.Stokes & Bairstow, he could have been valuable.
New coach. New captain. Same treatment. Sad. #Ashwin— Ashwin Murali (@ashwinmurali) July 1, 2022
Big news from Edgbaston.
No Ashwin.
People blamed Kohli for not playing him last year. Fact is, It’s not about the captain or the coach or their personal liking, it’s all about conditions.
Feel bad for Ashwin. But it’s what it is. Horses for courses. #ENGvsIND
— Cricketologist (@AMP86793444) July 1, 2022
"Play the specialist spinner in Ashwin over Jadeja at 7" pic.twitter.com/a619vMeVW6
— rajdeep das (@rajdeepcric) July 1, 2022
I'm actually more surprised this time that Ashwin is not in the XI. Last year, you knew why he couldn't get a chance. This year, given how the pitch looks, thought he would make the XI at Edgbaston.
— Venkata Krishna B (@venkatatweets) July 1, 2022
The only contention I have with Ind’s XI is Ashwin not being there, despite the pitches in England assisting spin a lot more this season. Thakur leaks runs at 4 rpo mostly and India can’t afford that England’s counter attacking lower middle order.#ENGvIND
— Gaurav Nandan Tripathi (@Cric_Beyond_Ent) July 1, 2022
Talking about the match, India started their batting with Shubman Gill opening alongside Cheteshwar Pujara. After playing few delightful shots, Gill departed off Anderson’s delivery.
