'It’s just mind games': R Ashwin on Steve Smith’s tour matches jibe ahead of Nagpur Test

Nagpur: With the hotly contested Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia just around the corner, the mind games have begun. The first match of the four-Test series will begin on 9 February in Nagpur.

Ahead of the opening encounter, veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had a few stern words for former Australia skipper Steve Smith over his comments on Indian pitches.

While discussing his team not playing any tour game as a preparation for the series, Smith opined that it’s “irrelevant” to play matches on different tracks when the pitch will be unlike it for the official match.

Rubbishing those claims, Ashwin termed it “mind games,” adding that the Australian unit is infamous for these tactics before any major tour.

Read | From specially prepared pitches to Ashwin’s duplicate, how Australia are preparing

Speaking to Australian media, Smith said they should have gotten at least two tour games before the series, like they do ahead of an Ashes. Recalling the last time Australia travelled to India for a Test series, he said,

“The last time we went I’m pretty sure we got served up a green top to practice on and it was sort of irrelevant. We got a green wicket in Brabourne and a completely different wicket in the first Test,” the right-handed batter said.

Taking the Australian cricketer’s comment into account, Ashwin explained while previewing the series on his YouTube channel, “To be fair, in Pune, it was a rank-turner. They might have received a green track from us, but nobody plans for everything.”

Further, the off-spinner branded Smith’s comment as the Australian team’s “style of cricket” while making a stern remark saying, “It’s their mind games. They sledge before a series and they love doing that.”

To explain the scenario of why India did not plan for any tour game before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ashwin admitted that the Men in Blue had a packed schedule with a number of international fixtures and it was hard to afford practice matches “with the same intensity.”

The 36-year-old said, “This is not new that Australia is not playing any tour matches this time. Even India avoids tour games when they go on a few overseas tours.”

The Australian unit kickstarted their four-day practice session on Thursday at the KSCA ground in Alur, on the outskirts of Bengaluru. They were also seen practising batting against “Ashwin’s duplicate” to get accustomed to the Indian conditions.

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