Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has congratulated Australia on winning the World Test Championship 2023 title but said he still fails to understand the exclusion of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin from the playing XI for the final that India lost by 209 runs.

Australia's victory was set up on Day One of the five-day match by a 285-run partnership between Player of the Match Travis Head (163) and Steve Smith (121) after Australia were sent in to bat first by India. Australia reached 469 in their first innings and India could manage only 296 in response to a key partnership between Ajinkya Rahane (89) and Shardul Thakur (51). Australia declared their second innings at 270/8, setting India a target of 444 runs to win the match.