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India and Australia are gearing up for the all-important Border-Gavaskar Test series which is scheduled to kick off from February 9. The four-match Test series is expected to bring forth high-voltage dramas which will see the bigwigs of both the nations battling out for the coveted trophy.
Meanwhile, right ahead of the marquee series, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan has cautioned Steve Smith to be wary of star Indian spinner Axar as he can pose a big threat to the Aussie star batter.
Pathan termed Smith an Australian legend and wants India to have a proper plan against him.
"No doubt about that. He is definitely an Australian legend. If you look at Australian history as well, he is up there. He has troubled the Indian bowlers a lot, scored tons of runs. Even though you know that he has got a really solid bottom hand, but still he finds ways to score runs in front of the wickets, on the off and leg side. We need to have a proper plan," Pathan told Star Sports.
"The challenge of Steve Smith will be there for Indian cricket but I think one guy, which I have a great feeling, who can actually have the numbers against him is Axar Patel. If he plays regularly all the matches, the kind of trajectory he has, he can be a big threat to him,” Pathan added.
"The line and length he bowls, the straight ball he bowls, he can bring the lbw or bowled into play against Steve Smith, especially because he uses his bottom hand a lot. A bowler who continuously bowls at the stumps can prove to be an alarm bell against such a player, that is Axar Patel,” Pathan added.
Smith is currently the only player in the Australian team who has an average above 60 in Indian conditions and Ashwin made it clear that India will need a proper plan to keep him in check.
Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023 schedule:
1st Test at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur - February 9-13
2nd Test at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi - February 17-21
3rd Test at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala - March 1-5
4th Test at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad - March 9-13
India’s squad for the first two Tests vs Australia: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.
Australia Test squad for India tour: Pat Cummins (capt), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.
