While preparing for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the Australian team is doing everything possible as they have every intention of winning the series. Under the captaincy of Pat Cummins, the visitors started practicing on Thursday, February 02 in Alur upon their arrival to India a day before, and it is also being said that they are watching videos of Axar Patel’s bowling, considering the all-rounder as a potential threat.
India and Australia will be facing each other in a four-match Test series on February 9 in Nagpur with an aim to make it to the World Test Championship final. While Australia is standing at the numero uno position with 75.56 percentage points, India is ranked second with 58.93 percentage points to their name and a victory in the upcoming series will confirm their spot in the summit clash.
ALSO READ: Andrew McDonald Reveals Australia’s Preparations To Tackle Ashwin And Axar
As the Australian side has started preparing for the all-important series in India, a video from their recent practice session has been doing rounds on social media. In the video, Steve Smith is seen facing Baroda bowler Mahesh Pithiya in order to train themselves against Indian spinners, especially the veteran spinner, Ravichandran Ashwin.
Mahesh Pithiya is known for impersonating Ashwin, who has been his idol. As Mahesh started playing the sport professionally, he grew up being called ‘Ashwin’, the sole reason being his exact representation of the Indian spinner’s bowling style. As a result, the Australians roped him in for their first training session so as to practice playing against Ashwin.
Mahesh Pithiya grew up being called “Ashwin” owing to his uncanny impersonation of his idol @ashwinravi99 & he ended up ‘playing’ Ashwin for Australia in their first training session on tour & making a big impression on Steve Smith. Here’s how #IndvAus https://t.co/GnAd63DFN6 pic.twitter.com/BgNwOWGDC6
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) February 3, 2023
The Australians are leaving no stone unturned ahead of the forthcoming four-match Test series with India. Be it using lookalike spinners, custom-made surfaces, or lengthy practice sessions at Alur, the visitors are giving their all. The Australians have developed a unique plan to deal with the difficulty since they anticipate India to play to their strengths at home and set up spin-friendly tracks.
ALSO READ: Irfan Pathan Vouches For Prithvi Shaw To Get A Long Rope In Team India
To be completely prepared for the Test series, they have decided to train in Alur first before heading to Nagpur and have opted out of playing tour matches. They have also refrained from practicing at any of the four Test-hosting locations, New Delhi, Dharamsala, and Ahmedabad being the other three. Instead, they traveled to the south to a facility that is an hour away from Bengaluru.
