Baroda spinner Mahesh Pithiya became a trending name earlier this year after he was roped in by the Australian cricket team to bowl in the nets ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India.

The Australian team had hired Mahesh to counter the threat of India’s ace off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

It is worth mentioning here that Mahesh considers Ashwin as his role model and his bowling action also resembles that of the latter.

With the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 around the corner, the Australian team has approached Mahesh Pithiya once again but the 21-year-old denied the offer this time around.

Notably, Australia are due to open their World Cup campaign against host India in Chennai on October 8.

“It was certainly an exciting offer, but then, I am also part of the Baroda set-up for the domestic season that begins next month. So, I thought about it, spoke to our coach and informed them that it won’t be possible for me to join the camp this time around,” Pithiya told Sportstar.

The Chepauk track is known for assisting the spinners and Ashwin has been included in India’s World Cup squad after Akshar Patel failed to recover from his quadriceps injury.

“As soon as the BCCI announced Ashwin as the replacement for Axar, I got the call. It is always exciting to work with international teams, but my priority is domestic cricket. I have come so far because of playing for Baroda and ahead of a long season, I thought I should focus on my game and not join the Australian team,” he added.

Akshar’s injury also paved the way for Ashwin’s selection in the recently held ODI series against Australia, where the latter played the first two games and repaid the faith of the selectors and team management.

Ashwin returned with bowling figures of 1/47 (10 overs) in the series opener in Mohali. He continued his brilliance in the second ODI in Indore, picking up three wickets in his seven overs by conceding 41 runs.