Australia preparing for India Tests in the presence of a Ravichandran Ashwin duplicate
Pithiya's action caught the eyes of Australia's support staff through social media after which they asked the 21-year-old to join the session in Bengaluru for the four-day practice camp at the KSCA Ground in nearby Alur.
Follow Us
Australia preparing for India Tests in the presence of a Ravichandran Ashwin duplicate
Australia are quite sure they do not need a warm-up match before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, starting on February 9 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. Steve Smith called the tour match in the lead-in to their series in 2017 as “irrelevant”. So did Usman Khawaja and later, head coach Andrew McDonald. A few eyebrows were raised with former Aussie skipper Michael Clarke being the first to question their approach.
But instead of a tour game, they have prepared a spin-friendly track in Sydney for a two-day camp. And instead of going directly to Nagpur for the first Test, they landed in Bengaluru for a four-day training session.
Three pitches are prepared by the local Karnataka cricket association which have given more turn as the day wore on. The stadium in Nagpur saw Gujarat bowled in the fourth innings for 54 while chasing 72 and nine wickets fell owing to orthodox spin. And to prepare against India’s lethal spin attacks, they are relentlessly focusing on doing their homework, this time, with a duplicate of Ravichandran Ashwin.
Related: “Slap on our cricket system,” Misbah-ul-Haq on re-hiring Mickey Arthur
Who is Mahesh Pithiya, the duplicate of Ravichandran Ashwin?
Aussies are aware of the threat of the top-ranked spinner but they have found Junagadh-born Mahesh Pithiya who is delivering Ashwin-like off-breaks. The walls of the Aussies, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, who had long batting sessions, found him troublesome.
Pithiya’s action caught the eyes of Australia’s support staff through social media after which they asked the 21-year-old to join the session in Bengaluru for the four-day practice camp at the KSCA Ground in nearby Alur.
The youngster, who made his first-class debut for Baroda in December and played four matches so far, saw Ashwin bowl for the first time in 2013 against West Indies and would later, make the crafty spinner his new idol. His phone is filled with Ashwin’s pictures, and he hopes of meeting him one day. In those four matches, he played UP, Himachal, Bengal, and Nagaland, he scalped eight wickets and scored 116 runs, with 52 being his highest.
Australia haven’t yet won a series in India since 2004. When they last toured India in 2017, the veteran off-spinner Ashwin scalped 21 wickets, while his Player of the Series spin partner Ravindra Jadeja became the most successful with 27 wickets. Australia haven’t yet found someone to mimic Jadeja nor did they find someone like Axar Patel.
In case you missed:
WATCH: Sachin Tendulkar honors World Cup-winning U-19 Women’s team with 5 crore check
Stay Updated!
Gouri Das
(4826 Articles Published)