Nathan Lyon believes India are under pressure and not Australia for the remaining two Tests

The ongoing Test series between India and Australia has produced some of the most riveting cricket contest one would ever witness. Before the series, not many had given Australia a chance to even coming close to a victory in any of the 4 Tests. But against all odds, they won the first Test in Pune on a rank turner outclassing the classy Indian spinners and made Indian batsmen look vulnerable against spin.

In the second Test in Bengaluru as well, they were in the driver’s seat after dismissing India for 189 runs in the first innings and gaining a lead of 87 runs after they batted. But it was a special partnership between Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane that took the game away from them. Out of the 8 innings played so far in the series, they have had the upper hand in 6 of them.

One of the prime influence in their domination has been their leading off-spinner Nathan Lyon. He had picked up 5 wickets in the first Test and took his career best figures of 8/50 in the first innings of the second Test. Recently, he spoke to Sydney Morning Herald and believed that the pressure is on the home side and not on the Australians.

“There’s a lot of belief. There’s a lot of people who wrote us off, before we even got on a plane and landed in Dubai, let alone coming over here. We’re one win away from retaining the trophy and that’s what we are here to do”, the 29-year-old said.

“The pressure is right on India – there’s no pressure on us. Everyone said ‘we were going to lose 4-0, they’re no good, they’re a young cricket team learning,’ but we believe we can beat the best teams anywhere in the world. We proved that in the first Test, we came close in the second Test and even that hurt – that’s probably the best thing about that game. I think they’re feeling the pressure a little bit, to be honest. And it’s good”

Lyon had suffered an injury to his spinning finger and was ineffective in the second innings at Bengaluru as he remained wicketless after bowling 33 overs. But as there is a long gap of 8 days before the third Test begins at Ranchi, the cracked callus of his index finger would have enough time to recover and he is confident of retaining his place in the playing XI.

“I have bowled a lot of balls over the summer and it usually happens once or twice a year. It just split. It was pretty painful there for a bit. And you can’t bowl on (adhesive) tape — there are rules and laws out there that you can’t bowl on tape so I wasn’t even considering that,” he added.

He recalled his last tour to India where he suffered the similar issue to his finger and said, “The last time I was here (in India, in 2013), the same thing happened in the third Test and I was able to play three days later. So I’m more than confident in turning out for the next Test.”