It seems Australia’s joyride in India is here to stay for a while as India succumbed to a batting failure once again. After a debacle in the first Test, the hosts were expected to put up a better performance in the second Test at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. But, that wasn’t the case on day one as hosts saw themselves bundle out for just 189.
The visitors continued from where they left at Pune. Only the bowler under the spotlight was a different one. Off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who quietly witnessed his left arm spinning partner Steve O’Keefe wreck the Indian batting order in the 1st Test, owned the opposition with figures of 8/50, the best ever by a visiting bowler in India.
He assessed the pitch quickly, found the right length and made the Indians depart one after another. The sharp turn and bounce proved too difficult for the batsmen to handle. Speaking at the post-match conference, Lyon went on to describe the efforts he put in to achieve the success he tasted today.
“I don’t know what to say,” Nathan Lyon says. “That last hour was big for me, I had my pads on so this is the first time I have smiled. I worked a lot with John Davison in the lead-up to the BBL games, used to bowl an hour every day. He can take a lot of credit as well.”
“There were some cracks there, and I was trying to hit some. I watched a lot of Ashwin tapes, but I stuck to my strength of getting a bounce. I bowled about 1200 balls in Dubai. We worked hard as a bowling group. We discussed how to bowl in India, the toughest place to tour for us.”
Australian openers David Warner and Matt Renshaw played out the remaining overs of the day with caution. They added an unbeaten opening stand of 40 runs to make sure an thoroughly fruitful day ended on a flawless note.