Watch! Steve Smith and Australia find Ashwin 2.0 to get ready for the test series

India and Australia lock horns in the 1st test at Nagpur in less than a week. Border-Gavaskar trophy hasn’t changed hands since 2017, as India have won home and away to show their superiority.  India have won the last three series 2017 (home), 2018/19 and 2020/21(Away) with a 2-1 margin.

The series is important for Rohit Sharma and his men need a series win over Australia. A series result with 3-0, 3-1 or even a series whitewash for the Indian team will come in handy. In such a scenario, the Indian team will reach the final of the World Test Championships to be played in June 2023.

The story so far –

Steve Smith and the Australian team have touched down in India and have started to sweat it out. Pat Cummins and his men are sweating it out in Bangalore while trying to get used to the Indian conditions.

One of the most keenly awaited battles is between Steve Smith and Ravichandran Ashwin. The 36 year old from Chennai has the upper hand over the Australian in recent times. In a bid to master and tighten his game, Steve Smith was seen batting against Mahesh Pithiya.

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Mahesh Pithiya turns heads during Australian nets –

21 year old Mahesh Pithiya is known to have bowling action similar to Ravichandran Ashwin. The youngster from Baroda was called to bowl in the Australian nets. It was a dream come true as Pithiya was seen bowling to Steve Smith one of the 3 best test batters in the game right now.

The youngster gave Smith a tough time and in fact even disturbed the 33 year old batters stumps a few times. Smith for his part was seen appreciating the bowling efforts of Mahesh Pithiya.

Who is Mahesh Pithiya ? a quick lowdown –

Mahesh Pithiya was born on 24th December,2001. Pithiya started following Ravichandran Ashwin only in 2013 when he saw the Chennai based off-spinner bowl against West Indies in Sachin Tendulkar’s final series.

Ashwin 2.0 and his cricketing journey –

Mahesh Pithiya made his 1st class debut earlier this season in the game against UP. He has played 4 games so far and picked 8 wickets. With the bat he has scored 116 runs with an average of 29. Pithiya has scored 1 half century with a best of 52 to his name. the 21 year old has also played 1 T20 game without much contribution with the bat or ball.