Veteran India batsman Dinesh Karthik has fired a stern warning to Australia ahead of the four-match Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The much-anticipated series is scheduled to get underway next week (February 9) in Nagpur.
As Australia look to win their first Test series in India since 2004/05 season, Dinesh Karthik has warned them that they cannot afford to have even one bad session. The veteran cricketer, who is a part of the commentary panel for the series, also said that the onus will be on off-spinner Nathan Lyon to deliver for his team.
Lyon has enjoyed a fine record against India so far. In 22 Tests against India, the Australia spin spearhead has picked up 94 wickets. He will be Australia’s go-to man in the upcoming series and Karthik believes that Lyon would have to be at his best throughout the series if the visitors are eyeing a series win.
“Our Achilles heel has not been spin bowling but off-spin bowling interestingly,” Dinesh Karthik told Cricbuzz.
“They have a world class off-spinner in Lyon. You also must understand that he will be under a lot of pressure knowing that he will be the key bowler for Australia to steer the ship in which direction it needs to go.
One bad session from his part could mean the Test match is moving in a direction against Australia and that’s a lot of pressure to handle,” he added.
Speaking further, Dinesh Karthik pointed out how Lyon had struggled against India A during the 2017 warm-up game. In that very match, Shreyas Iyer had smashed 202 off just 210 balls while Lyon had conceded at almost 6 runs per over.
“Shreyas Iyer literally smacked him in a side game in CCI. When the pressure is there, Lyon will need to stand up. A lot of his temperament and his testament will come to the fore. Even though India hasn’t been playing off-spin well, these matches are going to be in India and we have to trust our ability to play spin which has been part of our heritage and lineage over a period of time,” said Karthik.
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