Hands-down, Ashwin is world-class and there’s a lot to learn from him: Nathan Lyon

Nathan Lyon, Australia’s trump card in the spin department in their tour of India, has revealed that he has been closely following Ravichandran Ashwin to improve his bowling. The Aussie tweaker, who is the most successful off-spinner for Australia statistically, with 228 wickets in 63 Tests, was talking at an open media session in the lead-up to the first Test in Pune.

Lyon was highly appreciative of Ashwin, whom he rates the best currently in the world, didn’t quite reveal what exactly he has adopted from Ashwin. “I’m not going to tell you what I have been working on. I definitely changed my approach to the subcontinent conditions as compared to four years ago. We have to wait and see how it comes out, I guess,’’ Lyon said.

He added that he was working on his release, which required to be different in sub-continent conditions and Ashwin’s footages was made use for it. Lyon thought that there are no excuses for the touring team to make when in India and went on to say, “I am aware you need to change a few things here and there. But it’s a game of cricket. We are playing on the same wickets as they are. So there are no excuses. There is going to be different challenge lying ahead for us on this tour. We have a really good squad together. Wickets are going to turn, going to reverse, the big quicks are going to play a role.It’s a good challenge for the whole team”.

On being asked about being the senior pro in the spin department, Lyon said he was enjoying the added responsibility and loved passing on the knowledge he had to the younger spinners, having toured India four years ago. He maintained that it was the collective responsibility of the bowlers to bowl in partnerships and build pressure on the Indian batsmen.

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“If you are going to come out and try to take a wicket off every ball, you are going to get hit for boundaries. For us, coming over and competing here is about building pressure, either with quickies or spinners at the other end. Try to give minimum runs and make the Indians play the big shots. That’s where we are going to build pressure,” explained the experienced campaigner on the Aussie bowling think-tank.

Lyon downplayed Indian offspinner Harbhajan Singh’s opinion that if Australia play well the result will be 3-0 and went onto state that, “Everyone has his opinion. As an Australian team, we are worried about our processes. We are not worried about what everyone believes and thinks about this team. We think we have got really strong squad here. We have got unbelievable talent in the room out there. We have got good leaders with David Warner as vice-captain and Steve Smith as captain. There are some very young talents.”

However, Lyon was quick to admit that it was not going to be easy in India and seemed to suggest that the dressing room was upbeat about the challenge, “We are confident in our change room. We’ll come out and compete hard with India. We know it’s going to be hard work; we know it’s going to be a challenge. India is the No. 1 side for a reason. We’re playing in their backyard. We don’t expect our big fast bowlers to come out and get them five down (on the first day). It’s a big challenge for us. We are looking forward to it,” he concluded.

– Written by Rameez Mannil