The Australian cricket team has roped in Maheesh Pithiya, a 21-year-old spinner with an uncanny resemblance to Ravichandran Ashwin, to prepare for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The series begins on February 9 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. Australia lost to Team India the last time they played the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
Given the spin-friendly nature of the wickets in India, Ravichandran Ashwin will be a major threat to the visitors. To prepare for the challenge, Australia brought in Maheesh Pithiya, whose action has an uncanny resemblance to the veteran spinner. “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,” said a report by cricket.au.com
Watch the video here:
A bit of @marnus3cricket watching @stevesmith49 bat while thinking about batting followed by Steve Smith watching Marnus Labuschagne bat while thinking about batting #IndvAus pic.twitter.com/AigKBykRI6
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) February 2, 2023
Maheesh Pithiya was raised in Junagadh, Gujarat. He saw Ravichandran Ashwin play during the 2013 Test series against West Indies and started to idolize the spinner. Maheesh made his first-class debut for Baroda in December. He was in for the four-day training camp at the KSCA Ground in nearby Alur by Australia after seeing his footage on social media.
“What if he changes his action now?” – Abhinav Mukund jokes as Australia rope in Maheesh Pithiya
Australia’s net bowler, Maheesh Pithiya’s video has become the talk of the town on social media. Former cricketer Abhinav Mukund also saw the video and took to Twitter to share his thoughts. He expressed how Ravichandran Ashwin used to imitate Harbhajan Singh, and now the youngsters are imitating Ashwin. Abhinav Mukund also quipped, if Ashwin decides to change his actions, Australia’s plans will be thrown in disarray.
“Funny how Ashwin used to impersonate Harbhajan growing up, now there are many Ashwin clones. That just shows the impact he has had on Indian cricket. Will it help the Aussies though? What if he changes his action now?” wrote Abhinav Mukund on Twitter.
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