India vs Australia 2017: I Watched A Lot Of Ashwin Tapes, Says Nathan Lyon
Mar 4, 2017 at 7:34 PM
In the last game it was Steve O’Keefe and on the first day of the Bangalore Test, it was Nathan Lyon who toppled a strong Indian batting line-up that has never found itself in such a lame and tame situation in front of visiting spinners since the start of the home season. The Australian series though was supposed to be most competitive series but none of the Indian cricket expert or fans would have an idea of what Australia can do to India.
In the Pune Test, they finished the game within three days and the way India played today, one may not shy away from making a similar sought of prediction, primarily due to the way Nathan Lyon bowled, on a pitch where there was not much turn for the spinners. There was an extra bounce.
Lyon may not be blessed with a height that of Rahul Sharma who used to extract extra bounce from the pitch but still, he made the extra effort and succeeded in his plan. The way he pocketed Indian batsmen would have amused S Sriram, especially the way he dismissed Virat Kohli. The Indian skipper, in hope for a turn, did not tinker with the ball but found himself showing his leg to a ball with his body installed in front of stumps. Lyon had his plans and he implemented them wisely.
In the post-match press conference, Lyon revealed the secret of his success and said that he has learnt this from watching the Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin,
“I don’t know what to say. I watched a lot of Ashwin tapes, but I stuck to my strength of getting a bounce. I bowled about 1200 balls in Dubai,” he said.
“We worked hard as a bowling group. We discussed how to bowl in India, the toughest place to tour for us. 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 Big Bash League (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,” Lyon added.