IND vs AUS: Australia Train With Ravichandran Ashwin-Like India Spinner Mahesh Pithiya In Bengaluru Ahead Of BGT 2023
Published - 03 Feb 2023, 01:47 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:15 AM
Australia National Cricket Team have started their preparations in India for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy and they trained with the Ravichandran Ashwin-like India spinner Mahesh Pithiya in their first practice session in Bengaluru.
The 21-year-old off-spinner Pithiya made his first-class debut for Baroda in December 2022 and so far he has played just 4 first-class games and 1 T20 game in his career.
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The bowling action of Pithiya, who hopes to one day meet Ravichandran Ashwin, is pretty similar to the spin-bowling great, who will be a big threat to the Aussies in the upcoming 4-match Test series.
The 21-year-old was flown to Bengaluru for a four-day training camp at the KSCA Ground in Alur after the Australian support staff saw the clips of his bowling on social media, reported cricket.com.au.
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“It is my dream to meet him someday and I hope that happens soon,” Pithiya, who trained very closely with Yusuf Pathan while growing up, was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
Steve Smith Impressed With “Ravichandran Ashwin Impersonator” Mahesh Pithiya
During the training session in Bengaluru, Steve Smith was practising against spinners – Mitchell Swepson and Ashton Agar – when he heard batter Matthew Renshaw saying, “this guy bowls just like Ashwin” from the adjoining net. The left-handed Queenslander was also heard saying “well bowled Ash”, reported Cricbuzz.
Several local spinners participated in the training session but Mahesh Pithiya was the one who really stood out. The 21-year-old Baroda spinner caught Smith’s attention, especially after Renshaw had noticed the m similarities in bowling mechanisms between the youngster and Ashwin.
Also, the Australian Test vice-captain Smith was impressed with Pithiya’s bowling and he faced the spinner in the nets. The young spinner even got the better of Smith at times.
The entire focus was not on Ashwin in the training session as the Aussies also had hand-picked spinner Shashank Mehrotra in the camp doubling up for Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel.
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 Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 between the top-class teams is set to be held in India across four different venues in February-March.
The Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Jamtha, Nagpur will host the first Test from February 9 to 13, and the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi will host the second Test from February 17 to 21. The third Test will be played at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala from March 1 to 5 and the fourth Test will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad from March 9 to 13.
India Squad For Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, C Pujara, V Kohli, S Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav
Australia Squad For Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner
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