Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar heaped rich praise on ace Indian spinner R Ashwin ahead of the first Test of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, which will begin on February 9. He said that it will be very hard to negotiate the off-spinner, especially in Indian conditions.

Ashwin will be the key player for India and it was evident from the fact that Australian management had hired Baroda spinner Mahesh Pithiya who has a bowling action similar to Ashwin, to recreate conditions on which the ace Indian spinner will be bowling.

"To have a tactic against Ashwin, having a clone is a good preparation. But the hard work and smartness has to come in by going in and finding a way to survive, and not with a pre-conditioned approach. You just have to find a way to survive the first few minutes and I have seen it happen with some foreign batters. When they survive, they just find a way to play on such pitches,” said Manjrekar on ESPNCricinfo.

IND v AUS 2023: Sunil Joshi names his India XI for 1st Test; leaves out Cheteshwar Pujara

He also added that Ashwin will trouble the Australian batters as it was not easy to play him given that his accuracy was his biggest strength. He also termed Ashwin as a bowler who rarely bowled a bad ball.

"It is not going to be easy facing Ashwin. The thing that I admire about Ashwin, we all talk about his variations and everything, but we forget one very important thing about Ashwin, especially in Indian conditions and that is the accuracy with which he bowls.

Ashwin rarely bowls a bad ball. If you are not accurate on turning pitches, it gives the batter room to play shots. I think Indian bowling is pretty good, even if the pitch does not turn, they have got quality seamers,” Manjrekar added.

Ashwin needs one wicket to reach the 450-wicket milestone in Tests.