Irfan Pathan warned Smith

The historic Border-Gavaskar Cup Test series between India and Australia will begin in Nagpur from February 9. India will go into the field needing to win at least 3 matches in the series to qualify for the Test Championship final at the London Oval in July. On the other hand, Australia, who have already confirmed their place in the finals, are looking to make history by winning a Test series on Indian soil after 2004. And lastly, Australia is preparing to prove that they are the number one team by defeating India in their own soil this time after defeating them in the last 2 Test series at their own soil.

Australia, who have planned to play with extra spinners, are also planning to beat Ashwin, who is expected to give a big challenge, as spin bowling is always more common on Indian soil. In fact, Australian players like Marnus Labuschagne and Matt Renshaw said that they had made plans on how to face Ashwin during the Big Bash series.

Out of Syllabus:

In addition, the Australian team including Steve Smith is actively engaged in net training against him after catching a local bowler named Mahesh Pithia who bowls like Ashwin. The entire Australian team is gearing up to defeat Ashwin. In this case, former player Irfan Pathan has said that even if plans are made to drop Ashwin, Axar Patel will come out of the book and give a threat to the Australian team including Steve Smith.

Here is what he talked about on Star Sports TV: “There is no doubt that Steve Smith is an Australian legend. His name will surely be there if you flip through the history of Australia. And in recent times he has given Indian bowlers a lot of trouble and scored a lot of runs. We need to plan better against him as he has a way of scoring runs especially off the wicket and leg side with a solid backhand.”

“He has the biggest challenge in Indian cricket. And only one person in India has better statistics against him. He is Axar Patel. If he alone continues to play in all the matches, then surely, he will be the biggest threat to Steve Smith. He can take lbw or bolt against Smith especially with line, length and straight balls. Because Smith is more of a backhander. And whoever bowls against Smith on the stump line will be a threat. It will be Akshar Patel,” he said.

According to him, Axar Patel, who made his debut in 2021, played a major role in India’s victory by taking more wickets and impact than Ashwin in the Test series against England at home. And so far, the Australian team has never faced Axar Patel as often as they have faced Ashwin.

So Australian batsmen including Steve Smith are not likely to know much about his intricacies. Because of that, Irfan Pathan has expressed hope that Akshar Patel will act like out of syllabus in this series and give a threat to Australia.