NEW DELHI: Australia’s decision to bring in an unheralded off-spinner whose action resembles that of Ravichandran Ashwin for their training sessions in Alur has caused a buzz. Their practice sessions a week away from the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy takes one back to Sachin Tendulkar’s now-legendary sessions with former India leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan a week before the home series against Australia in March 1998.
While the ploy to use a ‘replica’ or ‘duplicate bowler’ for practice is intriguing, Siva offered a peek into what went into the training camp. That entire series, incidentally, was built around the Tendulkar-vsShane Warne rivalry, so Tendulkar was meticulous in his preparations.
