Australia are known for mind games and sledges: R Ashwin reacts to Steve Smith’s tour matches jibe

India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has labeled Australian batter Steve Smith’s bizarre comments on playing tour games ahead of a Test series as mind games, saying that nobody plans these things.

Australia have decided not to play a single tour game in India during the month-long Test series, owing to the hosts’ preference for green tops for practice matches and spinning tracks for games. Instead, they’re in Alur for a four-day training camp at the KSCA Stadium.

When Smith was asked about this, he said his team would benefit more from training alone rather than playing tour games on “irrelevant” Indian pitches ahead of the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series.

“We normally have two tour games over in England. This time we don’t have a tour game in India. The last time (2017) we went I’m pretty sure we got served up a green top (to practice on) and it was sort of irrelevant.

Hopefully, we get really good training facilities where the ball is likely to do what it’s likely to do out in the middle, and we can get our practice in,” Ashwin said while previewing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on his YouTube channel.

“Australia are not playing any tour matches this time. This is not new. Even India avoids tour games when they go on a few overseas tours. Since Team India’s schedule is packed with international games, it is not possible to turn up for practice games with the same intensity.

“Smith said, ‘We got a green wicket in Brabourne and a completely opposite one in the first Test (during the 2017 series). In all fairness, it was a rank-turner in Pune. We might have given them a green track, but nobody plans all these things. However, Australia are known for its mind games and sledges before a series. They love doing that. It’s their style of cricket,” Ashwin added.

Australia, meanwhile, have left no stone unturned in their preparations for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series against India, bringing in a Ravichandran Ashwin duplicate to help them train more effectively. Maheesh Pithiya, whose bowling action is uncannily similar to Ashwin’s, has been training with the Australian team ahead of the four-match Test series.