Australia Facing Ravichandran Ashwin's 'Duplicate' At Nets To Nullify His Threat Ahead Of Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Report

While Australia will take on India in the first Test in Nagpur, they are currently preparing for the series with a four-day training camp at the KSCA Ground in Alur, near Bengaluru.

Australia recognise R Ashwin as someone who can prevent them from winning the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and are leaving no stone unturned in their preparation to face him during the series.

Source : AFP

Australia determined to do well in the forthcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. While India have now beaten Australia in Australia twice in a row, it is the Kangaroos chance to avenge their defeat at home. Well aware that star India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin could pose a serious threat especially on Indian surfaces, the Pat Cummins-led side have reportedly flown in his duplicate.

As per a report carried by Cricket.Com.au, the visiting batters have been practicing against Maheesh Pithiya, who is said to have an uncanny resemblance to Ashwin's bowling action. They have flown him to Bengaluru as a net bowler. Whether or not it yields a positive result will be seen in the time to come but what that definitely conveys is how Ashwin is on the minds of the Aussies.

Meet Maheesh Pithiya, the net bowler with an uncannily similar action to @ashwinravi99. He’s been flown in to Bangalore to help the Aussies prepare one of India’s biggest spin threats #INDvAUS https://t.co/R782uEfYs9 pic.twitter.com/PoefXiFHvm

— Louis Cameron (@LouisDBCameron) February 3, 2023

While Australia will take on India in the first Test at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, the team is currently preparing for the series with a four-day training camp at the KSCA Ground in Alur, near Bengaluru.

That is not all, this time around Australia did not opt for a tour game because of their past experiences. They believe that the hosts provide green tops for the tour games but spinning tracks for actual matches. On this occasion, they have prepared some pitches that will be similar to the ones which will be used in the Test series. Australia are practicing playing against Pithiya on this track hoping to find it relatively easier if they then face Ashwin later.

Australia squad: 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

India squad: (for the first two Tests) Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav