Stats: Best Test bowling figures in an innings by an Australian spinner

After convincingly defeating India who were in the middle of a dream run under Virat Kohli’s leadership in the first Test match at Pune, Australia came to Bengaluru needing only one win to retain the trophy. Bowling first, it was the visitors who once again dominated the proceedings on Day 1 of the second Test as Team India was bundled out for 189 with Australian spinner Nathan Lyon picking up 8 of the 10 Indian wickets to go down on the day.

The off-spinner bowled splendidly to dismiss the Indian batters and took just 22.2 overs to pick up his 8 wickets giving away 50 runs. He now has the best performance on Indian soil as far as any visiting bowler is concerned and bettered his previous best performance of 7/94. Only four Indians, Anil Kumble, Jasubhai Patel, Kapil Dev and Subhash Gupta have been able to produce a better performance than him on home soil.

The Indian batting line-up which included the likes of Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara had no answer to the brilliance of the Aussie spinner who single-handedly led the Indian downfall. Lyon removed the dangerous Pujara which proved to be the final ball of the morning session and sent Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane back to the pavilion after lunch. He also became the bowler who now has the most number of wickets against India, 58. He went past Brett Lee’s record of 53 wickets against India after brilliantly getting rid of Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

Nathan now has the second best bowling figure by an Australian spinner in 96 years. He only trails Arthur Maily who had recorded figures of 9/121 against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground back on 11th February 1921. This was a performance the Aussie will cherish throughout his life while the Indians have a tough task at hand moving forward in the Test.

Here is the list of Best bowling figures in an innings by an Australian spinner:

(Stats updated till March 4, 2017)