Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 : Australia sends in R Ashwin’s replicate to counter threat

India and Australia are scheduled to face off in a four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series beginning in February. Australia are getting ready for the Test assignment in a distinctive way after declining the proposal to play a few exhibition games on the subcontinent. Maheesh Pithiya, the off-“duplicate,” spinner’s was reportedly flown to Bengaluru by the touring team as a net bowler so that Australian batters could practise against him ahead of the Test series.

Maheesh Pithiya and Ravichandran Ashwin, accordingly, looks eerily similar. An online video of Pithiya’s bowling reportedly made its way to Australia’s support staff. Due to the startling similarities between him and Ashwin, the touring team decided to fly the youngster to Bangalore for a four-day training camp at the nearby KSCA Ground.

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

Australia is using Pithiya to get ready for the threat that Ashwin poses, who they see as one of the biggest obstacles in their path to winning the Border-Gavaskar Test series in India.

Australia is practising playing Pithiya in an effort to become accustomed to the type of impact Ashwin might have on surfaces like those that would be created for the actual Test series. These pitches have already been built to match the types of wickets that would be prepared for those Tests.