Former Indian cricketer, Mohammad Kaif has taken a dig at Australia after their huge loss against India in Nagpur in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Saturday. The hosts outplayed the Aussies in all departments and won the match by innings and 132 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Ahead of the series, Australia trained in Alur and they called in Mahesh Pithiya, a bowler who had a similar action to that of India’s ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. However, it didn’t have the desired effect as Ashwin single-handedly cleaned up Australia’s batting lineup in the second innings and picked up five wickets to bundle out the visitors for just 91 runs.
Mohammad Kaif didn’t mince his words while taking a jibe at Australia for using Pithiya for their preparations on Twitter and said the visitors now know the difference between the real and duplicate version of Ashwin. The former cricketer criticized Australia for using a young domestic player in order to prepare for the veteran spinner.
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Kaif joked by saying that he is hoping that the Aussies aren’t looking for a duplicate version of Ravindra Jadeja to prepare for the Delhi Test. In his tweet, Mohammad Kaif wrote:”Australia now knows the difference between facing duplicate Ashwin and real Ashwin. You can’t prepare to face one of all-time great by facing a young first-class player. Hope they not searching for a Jadeja duplicate in Delhi.”
Australia now know the difference between facing duplicate Ashwin and real Ashwin. You can't prepare to face one of all-time great by facing a young first-class player. Hope they not searching for a Jadeja duplicate in Delhi.
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) February 12, 2023
R Ashwin was asked about Pithiya after the match on Saturday, where he revealed that he had changed his bowling action for the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
R Ashwin said, “I think that person is long gone. However, I did change my action for this series. But it has nothing to do with how Australia prepped up for the series. Every team that goes on tours, we know how difficult it is to start off tours.”
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He further added, “We’re trying to recreate match scenarios as much as possible. Australia would do that like we would do when we go to Australia or England. We would do that too. For me, there are different reasons why I changed my load up. I did that and I’m glad that it just came through well.”
