File image of Ravichandran Ashwin© AFP
After Ian Healy‘s controversial statement regarding the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has said that the series needs “this spark”. Healy had said that if India offer ‘fair pitch’ in which there is consistent spin, without the ball “jumping ridiculously and sliding down low from day one”, then Australian will end up on the winning side. The ex-Australia wicketkeeper-batter added that if ‘unfair pitch’ is offered then India would play better than the visiting team in those conditions.
Commenting on the same Ashwin, on his YouTube channel said: “Anyway, an Australian broadcaster and former player Ian Healy has given a few gems before the BGT (Border Gavaskar Trophy). He has given a few statements that say ‘India will make sure the Australians feel uncomfortable in India. I don’t believe that they will give us wickets that will look even slightly closer to what we will actually get during a game’. So he has said that Australia’s approach is only correct. The support staff might have given their opinion, but Ian Healy’s quote has set a spark with this take. It’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy guys. So we need this spark, right? (The) banters will keep coming from the Australian camp for sure. We saw what Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja had to say. Even Marnus Labuschagne and Matt Renshaw have said some controversial things.”
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy — Test series between India and Australia — is all set to kick off on February 9 with the first match taking place at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. Wary of the spin threat against India, the guests are preparing themselves in the best possible way to tackle the challenge. The Australian team is practising on worn pitches — surfaces that are expected to be offered to them during the four-match Test series against India.
Meanwhile, Australian batters have been practicing against Ravichandran Ashwin’s “duplicate” Mahesh Pithiya, flying him to Bengaluru by the touring team as a net bowler to negate the threat of the India off-spinner.
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