Ability to extract bounce has been the big difference between Lyon and Ashwin: Ian Chappell

The second day of the India v Australia Test belonged to the visitors as their off-spinner Nathan Lyon exploited the conditions really well to deal India three hefty blows in the last session of the day. He picked up the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair and Ravi Ashwin to leave the Indians 6 down with a trail of 52 runs at the end of the day.

As per former Australia captain, Ian Chappell Lyon’s ability to get that “extra bounce” from the surface helped him get the wickets. Two of the three wickets were on balls that bounced more than the batsmen expected as Rahane and Nayar were caught around the bat.

He used overspin really well at Bengaluru in the first innings as well where he registered his best bowling figures with an 8-wicket haul in the first innings. “It’s his ability to get overspin on the ball and to get that extra bounce if you look at a couple of his wickets that were brought about by bounce, particularly Karun Nair,” Chappell was quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Ashwin hasn’t had the success his Aussie counterpart has had in the series having already picked 18 wickets. What Lyon has effectively done is purchased bounce from the wicket with topspin, while Ashwin who is taller hasn’t quite used that delivery as much.

“It was the bounce that fooled him, so I think that was the big difference between Lyon and (Ravichandran) Ashwin and even though Ashwin is a taller bowler, because he doesn’t overspin the ball as much as Nathan Lyon, he doesn’t get that one that occasionally really bounces off the pitch.” Chappell added.

The Indian batsmen had a defensive approach during the day and one got the impression that they were looking to play out the day which allowed the bowlers to make a comeback and as they lost wickets didn’t really have the runs on the board.

Had the Indian batsmen attacked Lyon he wouldn’t have settled into the rhythm he did which saw him bowl attacking lines right outside the off-stump and constantly trouble the right-handers. “I thought that spell where he got the wickets I thought that was a terrific spell from Lyon. That’s another reason I thought India should have been a bit more pro-active before tea when Lyon wasn’t bowling quite as well in that period. He got Australia right back into the game,” he said.