Australia gets 'Ashwin duplicate' to combat spin ahead of Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Australia have roped in Maheesh Pithiya a 21yearold spinner with uncanny resemblance to Ravichandran Ashwin to train on spinfriendly tracks as part of their preparation for the upcoming Test series against IndiaOffspinner Ashwin may prove to be a major threat for Australia who havent won a Test series in India since 2004Expecting spin to play a major role in the fourTest series the visitors have opted for tailormade pitches and have availed the services of Pithiya to get accustomed to the action of AshwinThe fourTest series begins in Nagpur on February 9Also Read Back at it Virat Kohli hits gym trains intensively ahead of BorderGavaskar TrophyOf all the stops Australia have pulled out to prepare for their trip to India the most noticeable at their Test tours first training session was the presence of a Ravichandran Ashwin duplicate a report in cricketcomau saidWith 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 sessionsPithiya interestingly didnt see Ashwin bowl until the age of 11 Growing up in Junagadh Gujarat he didnt have access to TV and when he finally watched the India ace in action against the West Indies in 2013 he started idolising himThe youngster who made his firstclass debut in December for Baroda was flown in for the fourday training camp at the KSCA Ground in nearby Alur by Australia after seeing his footages in social mediaAlso Read Australia wary of slide spinIt was Pritesh Joshi one of the bowlers giving throw downs to the Australian batters with the sidearm aid who first brought Pithiya to the attention of assistant coach Andre BorovecHe also arranged for Mehrotra Shashank a leftarm spinner who played firstclass cricket for Hyderabad to attend the campWhile 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 worlds topranked Test spin bowler the report saidThe Aussie batters were also tested out by a selfdescribed 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 BangaloreThe other Tests will be played in New Delhi February 1721 Dharamsala March 15 and Ahmedabad March 913This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever