Mind Games And Sledges Is Australia's Style Of Cricket: Ravi Ashwin's Strong Reply To Steve Smith

Nagpur: India's marquee spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said that mind games and sledging are Aussies' style of cricket in reply to Australian batter Steve Smith's comments about playing tour games before a Test series as part of mind games.

Australia will not play a single tour match in India cause as per them the hosts prefer green tops for practice matches and spinning tracks for games. They are instead attending a four-day training camp at the KSCA Stadium in Alur. Prior to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Steve Smith responded that his team would benefit more from training alone rather than playing tour games on "irrelevant" Indian pitches.

"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 spoke on 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.