Rahul Dravid's speech will be this WTC cycle's moment, says R Ashwin ahead of Australia finale

India are set to take on Australia in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 final, which kicks off on Wednesday (June 07) at The Oval, London. While Virat Kohli-led India dominated the inaugural WTC cycle and entered the final, they lost to New Zealand by eight wickets in the summit clash. Thus, Rohit Sharma's India will be eager to get past the finish line in the second cycle.

Ahead of facing Pat Cummins-led Australia, who are one spot below No. 1 ranked India,veteran off-spinner R Ashwin revealed that head coach Rahul Dravid's speech after India's three-wicket win over Bangladesh in the Dhaka Test, in late 2022, will be the highlight for him in this current WTC cycle. Unlike the first cycle, India did not dominate to reach the final but was made to work hard. They had to whitewash hosts Bangladesh in a two-match series, held last December but were staring at defeat in the final Test.

Dismissing Bangladesh for 227 in the first essay, KL Rahul & Co. made 314 and then bundled out the Bangla Tigers for 231. In pursuit of 145, India was 74 for 7 before Shreyas Iyer (29 not out) and R Ashwin's (42*) unbeaten 71-run eighth-wicket stand took India to a 2-0 victory. Ashwin recalled Dravid's speech after the win and told the ICC, "We’ve had our moments in this last cycle, especially where we could have been knocked out quite a few times and have just held tight. I think the moment of the WTC, I don’t know irrespective of what happens in this game, would be Rahul (Dravid) bhai’s speech after the Bangladesh Test that we had at Mirpur."

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Also Read:WTC Final: Former England spinner names India and Australia's X-factor for mega clash

'I think WTC finalcould be lucky number two for us'

He opined, "I think we were just going to be knocked out of the WTC race in that particular Test, so we finished the game and I came out and was really pumped up, I don’t think we expected... nobody expected us to win, even inside the dressing room. Rahul just said, ‘It was a great game of cricket and Ash, we were never in doubt’. That is probably the moment of the WTC cycle as far as I’m concerned.

“Like he (Dravid) said, we were never in doubt, even though we went through the ride. I think in the last cycle we really quite dominated and got into the Final. This time we’ve had our ups and downs, and that’s probably why I think this particular game could be lucky number two for us," Ashwin concluded.