Home
It will be a contest to watch out for when the two maestros of the game, Ravichandran Ashwin and David Warner will lock horns with each other in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Test series which is set to kick off from February 9.
Meanwhile, former India's star all-rounder Irfan Pathan have already made a prediction about who will have the last laugh in the fierce contest between the ace spinner Ashwin and the batting juggernaut Warner.
“There’s no question about it because over half of Ravichandran Ashwin’s wickets have come against left-handed hitters. No bowler in history has taken the wickets of more than 200 left-handed hitters. Those are impressive figures. So, if he sees David Warner approaching, I don’t think it will be a great difficulty” Irfan Pathan said in a conversation with Star Sports.
In Test cricket, Ashwin has dismissed Warner 10 times, and he has a miserable 18.2 opponent average against him. Warner has played against off-spinners in India more frequently, scoring 146 runs at an average of 29.2 for his five dismissals.
Recently in the Test series against South Africa, Warner smashed a robust double century in his 100th Test appearance.
Pathan feels that facing Ashwin in spin-friendly conditions will be a different ball game for Warner despite his good form
“Warner recently scored a double hundred. He’ll be very confident right now, especially with his batting, because he’s been struggling for runs, but the challenge in India is different – the challenge of the pitches and the challenge of Ravichandran Ashwin – that’s going to be very, very powerful, and I believe Ashwin will definitely trouble David Warner in this series” Pathan further added.
Notably, India haven't lost a Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in the last three encounters.
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.
