One of World cricket’s most ruthless rivalry will resume in February 9th when India welcomes Australia for the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023. The 4-match test series will start from Nagpur first Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Ahmedabad will feature the following tests.
The Aussies have already qualified for the World Test Championship Finale set to take place in summers. And for India only a series win against the Baggy greens will ensure back-to-back WTC Finals. A lot of Indo-Kangaroo rivalry will also renew with the headline being Virat Kohli Vs Pat Cummins.
Spinners will also be playing a crucial role as always for both the teams. In the build up to the tournament we have already heard enough of Australian Legends’ and players’ disagreement with the way Indian pitches behave. Now if this scenario takes place it will be interesting to see how the visitors tackle.
India’s Veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin replied to all such allegations and suggested that he knows why Australians are doing so. He responded to Steve Smith’s dig at Indian pitches. The visitors had an option of playing a practice match but they decided against it in order to undergo a 4-day camp at the KSCA stadium.
When asked about this decision Smith said that its better not to practice on such irrelevant wickets and they will gain no benefit from it.
“The last time we went I’m pretty sure we got served up a green top and it was sort of irrelevant. Hopefully, we get really good training facilities where the ball is likely to do what it’s likely to do out in the middle, and we can get our practice in. We’re better off having our own nets and getting spinners in and bowling as much as they can.”
In response, Ashwin said that this is nothing new and Australia are known for playing mind games. – “Australia are not playing any tour matches this time. This is not new. Even India avoids tour games when they go on a few overseas tours. Since Team India’s schedule is packed with international games, it is not possible to turn up for practice games with the same intensity.
