'I asked him why didn't you guys bat first like you always do, he answered...' - George Bailey leaves Ravichandran Ashwin stunned on Aussie tactics in ODI World Cup 2023 final

Veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin came up with a stunning revelation on Australia’s plans against India for the final of the ODI World Cup 2023. Ashwin revealed his conversation with the Australian chief selector George Bailey during the mid-innings break. Ashwin also admitted that he was left stunned after knowing the plans and tactics of the Aussies.

The 37-year-old spoke in length on the same in a recently uploaded video on his YouTube channel. Ashwin also lauded the Aussie skipper Pat Cummins for his tactics in the all-important summit clash of the tournament against India.

“Australia totally deceived me personally, I had a chat with George Bailey during the mid-innings, and I asked him why he didn't you guys bat first like you always do - he answered back, we have played IPL & Bilateral series here a lot - red soil disintegrates but not black soil & it gets better under lights - no impact on dew on red soil but black soil has good turn in afternoon & then it will be a concrete in night - this is our experience,” said Ashwin in a video on his YouTube channel.

“Final was a tactical masterclass by Cummins, he had a 4-5 fielding setup, similar to an off-spinner, hitting the stump line - he bowled only 3 balls in the 6-meter mark towards the stump line as not allowing batters to drive - he bowled all-overs without mid-off, a masterclass,” he added later.

Here's the video of Ravichandran Ashwin: 

How George Bailey (Chief Selector), Pat Cummins and Australia put on a tactical masterclass by assessing the conditions so well and opting to bowl first. The explanation Bailey gave blew @ashwinravi99's mind. pic.twitter.com/LwF82LDyiS

— Crikipidea (@crikipidea) November 23, 2023

Speaking of the match, Australian captain Pat Cummins won the toss and asked India to bat first; the hosts skipper Rohit Sharma provided a fiery start to India, scoring 47 runs off just 31 balls, with 4 fours and 3 sixes, alongside half-centuries from Virat Kohli and KL Rahul. But the other batters failed and India could post a total of only 240 runs in the allotted 50 overs, losing all wickets.

Australia in the second innings, comfortably chased down the target in 43 overs, scoring and 241 runs for the loss of 4 wickets and winning the match by 6 wickets to clinch their sixth ODI World Cup title.