WATCH ROAR LIVE: Is Nathan Lyon under-appreciated or overrated?

Lyon has literally no talent. His 8fer at Bangalore was merely down to the Indians trying to smash him to the moon and back. He's incapable of getting the best batsmen out. Relies on charity wickets. For years he feasted on the intimidation of Johnson and Harris to get some cheap wickets. Now those two are gone Lyon is being shown as the dreadful bowler he has always been

id say bare that one test in australia and last 4 wickets in pune he fails to do the job in the second inning which is when a spinner is needed to shine.

If Steve O'Keefe wasn't consistently performing head and shoulders above all other spinners, year in, year out, in the Sheffield Shield, there would probably be less in the way of question marks over Lyon. O'Keefe is the only real question mark about Lyon being the top spinner in the country at the moment. Some people don't like O'Keefe because they don't think he turns the ball enough, but despite all that he just keeps performing, year in, year out, in a competition where the conditions are generally more suited to pace bowlers than spinners and apart from the odd blip, continually out-performs Lyon in matches they play together. Yet despite all this, Lyon has just kept getting picked to the point where he's played more tests than any Australian spinner other than Warne. Hence he's topping all-time lists of Aussie finger spinners simply through weight of continually getting selected. He's not completely out of his depth, but he does seem to regularly go along being mediocre and then pull out just enough to satisfy selectors when his position is on the line. In that way he's very much benefited from being in the right place at the right time. After having run through so many spinners since Warne the selectors decided the next one would get a long run and see if he could develop, and Lyon was the lucky one. There are probably a number of those who'd gone before him who could have prospered just as much had they been given a similar run and similar amount of grace as Lyon received.

He took a wicket with his first ball in test Cricket - he was just a kid, a bit sheepish, a sacrificial lamb for the selectors, now considered a GOAT. Well, some of the Indians will have a beef with him for busting their chops. The steaks are high.

Yep, and I reckon that is what most rational cricket fans would think

Nearly 250 wickets suggests hes doing something right. However too many lean spells where he is ineffective and goes missing in 4th innings suggests hes also not evolving well enough to be a constant threat at the top. So a little from column a and a little from column b

Agree. He has rarely performed in the 3rd or 4th innings when spinners are most needed. Worse he has over a longish career not addressed are where improvement is required. He continues to leak runs and is overly reliant on bounce. More sheep than GOAT. Overrated.

He's the 'Watto' of spin bowling. Dishes out tripe until people call for his head then pulls a rabbit out of his hat and voila! Saves his bacon to serve out another load of tripe.

Your last paragraph equals ?????. Bloody priceless and I spilled beer reading that but a small price to pay.

In 31 4th innings he only has one "5 for" and averages over 33. Not good enough Overrated

Granted he hasn't been great before those last few Sri Lankan tests, but what about the 18 months before that where he was one of our most consistent bowlers. You can tell he is certainly a confidence bowler, but he's still only 29 years young and for a spinner can still have a long career if he continues to learn and improve.

Agreed. He cops unwarranted flack saying he is rubbish, then unwarranted praise that he is the 'messiah'. He also isn't really appreciated for most of his efforts, yet cops a barrage as being the worst bowler ever for some of his sub par performances over the last 12 months. He's in the middle for me, I like him and can be a very threatening bowler (see this test match) but there is no denying that before the last few Sri Lankan tests in Aus he was struggling big time, his confidence was down and was bowling poor - even he has admitted as much.

Will say overrated. I have always been a fan, but he's far from a top-class spinner, but more particularly most of his last 12-18 months he has been pretty poor. Aside from the amazing effort here in Bangalore, he has generally been ineffective, almost cannon fodder for batsmen, and not able to build pressure of any sort, instead being milked easily for runs. His Sri Lankan tour was horrendous last year, and he was pretty lucky to have played out all of the home summer tests. That said, he showed us just what he can do when the wicket and conditions are favourable enough, and it wasn't a case of batsmen throwing their wickets away against him either, he actually bowled superbly. Definitely not under appreciated by fans I don't think, given his meteoric rise to cult hero status virtually, in the past few months.

Neither. He cops flack (and yep he's not the greatest) and also gets a lot of praise (yep he's been alright) Overall, I think he is held about right in the balance of Australian Cricket Culture.

massively massively overrated give me Swepson any day (Warne's latest love child) Australia will lose this test in a big way all out in 4th inns for 68

Under-appreciated - a fantastic team member that can be relied upon to regularly do a good job in any conditions. Has been through a few downs but the positives outway the negatives easily in my view. At the age of 29 he could become a great as he seems to be improving both his control and variety at the same time. I think there could be an alternate reality where O'Keefe has been our spinner over the same period and we won't know if would have been better or worse. I do think any analysis of O'Keefe v Lyon should look at performances at grounds where only one spinner would play (e.g. Hobart, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and SA/England). I don't know how O'Keefe would stack up against Lyon at these venues but it is an important comparison because that is a different role for the spinner than on the grounds where they have both played - and conditions are more conducive to spin.

Under-appreciated - he does a fine job of picking up a wicket or two and playing a steady hand. He is very good in the field and bats above his weight. Rarely will he rip a side apart, but is a great contributor to the team performance. He's good at what he does. BUT, and it's a big BUT (current test notwithstanding) Steve O'Keeffe has been consistently a better bowler for much longer. Picks up 2-3 not 1-2, is also a fine fielder and superior with the bat. Should have been given a run before Lyon and we should be having the conversation about how SOK became the no 1 finger spinner. Decisions made a few years ago have seen Lyon take his chance, but it should have been SOK's.

Overrated. He got the job being the best of a bad bunch, then kept it remaining the best of a bad bunch. His flashes of form are too few and far between. He struggles to hold down an end and restrict half decent batsmen to build pressure. Having said that his performance in this test has been exemplary. My heartiest congratulations to him on an outstanding effort. Unfortunately that should keep him in the side for another 5 years of mediocre bowling again.