India's premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin played just one game in the entire ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023 and his solitary appearance came against Australia in the team's opening campaign. The veteran took one wicket and gave away 34 runs in his quota of 10 overs.

Ravichandran Ashwin celebrates with his teammates during ICC ODI World Cup 2023After that game, he was not part of any of the games throughout the entire campaign. In fact, everyone thought he would be playing in the World Cup 2023 final as he practised with the bat and ball but was not picked in the playing XI for the final showdown.

Meanwhile, the right-arm off-spinner finally broke his silence after not being picked in the starting XI of the World Cup 2023 final. While echoing his thoughts to former Indian batsman S Badrinath on his YouTube channel, Ravi Ashwin said he backs Rohit Sharma's decision.

"As far as I am concerned, I playing the final, team combination and all that is secondary. Firstly, it's about empathy, I keep stressing it a lot. It's about standing in someone else's shoes and looking at things from his/her viewpoint. If I had been in Rohit's shoes, I would have thought 100 times about changing the combination. It was going very well for the team. Why would I rest a fast bowler and play three spinners?" Ravi Ashwin said he was able to comprehend the thought process of Rohit Sharma. 

“Playing the final is a big opportunity. I was preparing for it for 3 days in the lead-up. I was not replying to a lot of people. I read only the ticker of WhatsApp messages and kept my phone away," the 2011 ODI World Cup winner added.

"I was preparing myself well for the opportunity. At the same time, I was prepared to cheer for the team and run in with electral if I didn't get the opportunity. I was mentally prepared for that too," the spinner added.