Australia train against ‘Ashwin duplicate’ in nets

NEW DELHI: Australia may not be playing a warm-up game in India ahead of the Test series starting in Nagpur on February 9, but they aren’t leaving a stone unturned in preparing for their opponents in the nets. They have roped in 21-year-old Mahesh Pithiya, a spinner with uncanny resemblance to R Ashwin’s bowling action, to train on spin-friendly tracks in Bengaluru in the build-up to the first Test.

Australia’s focus on Ashwin is understandable given the threat that the star offspinner poses in Indian conditions.

In eight Tests against Australia at home, the 36-year-old from Chennai has claimed 50 wickets at an average of 23.16.

“Of all the stops Australia have pulled out to prepare for their trip to India, the most noticeable at their Test tour’s first training session was the presence of a Ravichandran Ashwin duplicate,” a report in cricket.com.au said.

“With facing spin the major focus on Thursday, Pithiya was the standout among the local ‘netties’, bowling tirelessly and virtually without break through the day as he troubled the likes of Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head, who all had long batting sessions,” the report added.

Pithiya, who was born in Junagadh in Gujarat, started idolising Ashwin after first seeing him in action against West

Indies in 2013. He hadn’t seen Ashwin bowl prior to that as he didn’t have access to television growing up.

The youngster made his firstclass debut for Baroda, against Uttar Pradesh, in December 2022. He has played four firstclass matches and picked up eight wickets so far.

It was Pritesh Joshi — one of the bowlers giving throw downs to the Australian batters with the ‘side arm’ aid — who first brought Pithiya to the attention of assistant coach Andre Borovec. He also arranged for Mehrotra Shashank, a left-arm spinner who played first-class cricket for Hyderabad, to attend the camp.

“While no spinner in the world can perfectly mimic the challenge Ashwin will pose in this series, facing Pithiya over the coming days will at least help the Australians come to terms with the visual cues of the world’s top-ranked Test spin bowler,” the report said.

“The Aussie batters were also tested out by a self-described throwdown specialist Khaleel Shariff, who has worked with numerous Indian Premier League teams and was known to coach Andrew McDonald and Vettori from their time at Royal Challengers Bangalore,” it added. The other Tests will be played in New Delhi (February 17-21), Dharamsala (March 1-5) and Ahmedabad (March 9-13).

CRICKET AUSTRALIA Mahesh Pithiya.