WTC FinalI haven't said Ravichandran Ashwin is not going to play, says Rohit Sharma on India's bowling unit

By India Today Sports DeskIndia captain Rohit Sharma said that he has not ruled out the possibility of spinner Ravichandran Ashwin starting in the World Test Championship Final against Australia at the Kennington Oval in London on June 7.

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Speaking ahead of the WTC Final, Rohit said he’s never said that Ashwin won’t play against Australia, adding that they will formulate the starting XI after assessing the weather conditions. India could play two spinners in Ravindra Jadeja and Ashwin in the WTC Final at the Oval.

“Yeah, see, I’ve not said that Ashwin is not going to play. We’ll wait until tomorrow – because one thing I have seen here – the pitch actually changes quite a bit from day to day. Today it’s looking the way it is. Tomorrow it might be slightly different, who knows,” said Rohit.

He went on to say that all 15 players in the squad should be ready to play whenever called upon. With the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer out with injuries, India will be looking at their replacements to step up in the WTC Final.

“So the message to the boys has been very clear, all 15 must be ready to play at any point in time. And we’ll see the conditions tomorrow as well and make that decision as to who gets into that playing 11,” Rohit added.

Rohit said he will have a look at the pitch and decide the starting XI, while stressing that the pitch generally favours the pacers. India came second in the WTC points table, picking up 127 points from 18 matches, while Australia finished as table-toppers, amassing 152 points in 19 games.

“I’ll go and have a look at the pitch. But yeah, it looks a bit of help for the seamers definitely. With the overhead conditions as well, it’s going to assist seamers a fair bit. I don’t know how drastically the pitch changes quite a bit in this part of the world,” said Rohit.

This will be India’s chance of lifting an ICC trophy for the first time in almost a decade, since there ICC Champions Trophy triumph under the leadership of MS Dhoni in 2013.