Oz take mock test

ANI

Bengaluru, February 3

With lookalike spinners, tailor-made pitches and long practice sessions in Alur, the visiting Australians are leaving no stone unturned in preparing for the four-match Test series against India that they consider as the “final summit”.

The Australians expect India to play to their strength and prepare spin-friendly tracks, so they have devised a special strategy to prepare for the challenge. They have eschewed preparatory matches before the Test series, instead training in Alur before travelling to Nagpur, which will host the first Test from February 9 to 13.

They have decided to not train at any of the venues that will host the four Tests — New Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad being the other three — and have gone down south to train at a facility in Alur, an hour’s drive from here. Aiding them in getting ready for the tough battles ahead is a spinner who has an uncanny resemblance to India star Ravichandran Ashwin, according to a report on Cricket Australia’s website.

The presence of the Ashwin duplicate, whom the Australian team management picked up after noticing extreme resemblance with Ashwin’s action, was quite noticeable during their first training session at the mini-camp in Alur yesterday. It is being reported back home as a secret strategy to tackle star off-spinner Ashwin.

According to the report, the Ashwin duplicate, Maheesh Pithiya, is a 21-year-old from Junagadh, Gujarat, and made his First-Class debut for Baroda in December. His bowling action has a strong resemblance to Ashwin’s, “who will be one of the biggest bowling threats to the Aussies during the four-Test series beginning in Nagpur next week”. This is the reason Australia’s support staff, after seeing the footage of the spinner on social media, flew him to their base in Bengaluru for their four-day training camp at the KSCA Ground.

The KSCA has provided the Australians with three pitches that will provide excessive spin right from Day 1 of use. On Thursday, they practised on the central pitch and it was turning square by the end of the day.

“Three pitches in the middle of the main ground in Alur have been prepared by the local Karnataka cricket association, with each taking more turn as their first training day wore on. Assistant coach Daniel Vettori’s left-arm spinning throwdowns were particularly volatile by mid-afternoon,” the Cricket Australia report said.

The Australian thinktank has sought such tracks to mimic what they expect to face at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium pitch in Nagpur, which is expected to be spin-friendly. Two weeks ago, a Ranji Trophy game in Nagpur saw Gujarat bowled out in the fourth innings for 54 while chasing only 72. Nine wickets fell to left-arm orthodox spin.

The Aussies are gearing up for the battle, with Pithiya and other net bowlers bowling “tirelessly through and virtually without break through the day”. Top batters Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Travis Head batted for long sessions in the morning and all three were troubled by Pithiya.

The Aussies also faced Shashank Mehrotra, a left-arm spinner who plays First-Class cricket for Hyderabad, and throw-down specialist Khaleel Shariff. — IANS

Aussies mindful of reverse threat

Bengaluru: Australia batter Alex Carey has said that though they are focusing on negating India’s spinners in their upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, they haven’t forgotten just how effective can pace be in Indian conditions.

“Going to Pakistan there was a lot of spin talk and I found the reverse-swinging ball really difficult,” Carey told reporters. “I played a four-day game (for Australia A against India A) in 2018 and a lot of the talk was about spin and you forget a little bit about how damaging how both teams’ fast bowlers are with a reverse swinging ball, with a wicket that might be a little bit up and down.”

“Having the preparation and the game to ebb and flow between fast bowling and spin, and (during) dry periods where you won’t score, (is important),” Carey said.

Carey has a painful glute muscle from all the sweeping he’s been doing against spin, but Australia’s batting line-up is aware of the threat posed by fast bowlers.

“I’ve got a sore glute today, I played a few yesterday. I bat seven so I get to have a bit of a look at what the conditions are doing. You go out there with a bit a plan to hopefully succeed, it doesn’t always happen but if you can put it in your favour a little, that’s helpful,” Carey said.

“I don’t see it being any different over here in India. If the wicket’s flatter than what we think then the game might change a little bit, if it’s tough conditions then try to stick to a plan and be ok with what happens. I like to sweep in most circumstances, in most formats. I guess then playing the conditions as well… We went to Galle for two Test matches and they were two different wickets,” he added.