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Lyon is mauling India

17th December, 2018
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17th December, 2018
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India’s blunder in not selecting a spinner for the second Test haunted them yesterday as Nathan Lyon bowled Australia to within striking distance of a rousing win in Perth.

Despite Lyon having starred with seven wickets during the last first-class match at Perth Stadium, India gambled by overlooking veteran tweaker Ravi Jadeja in favour of playing a fourth quick.

That extra paceman Umesh Yadav has had a shocking Test, taking 2 for 139 on a bowler-friendly pitch, while Lyon again proved the new Perth deck is great for spinners, grabbing 7 for 97 in the match so far.

Lyon’s first wicket yesterday won Australia this Test. At 2 for 48 chasing 287 to win, India were long odds to claim a 2-0 lead in the series. But any hope of a comeback victory evaporated when Lyon dismissed Indian kingpin Virat Kohli.

The visiting skipper was the only reason India were still in the match, having scored nearly half his team’s runs in the first innings with a supreme knock of 123.

So gifted is Kohli, so massive is his influence on his team’s psyche, that as long as he remained at the crease India were always in the Test.

When Lyon got an off break to skid off the cracked pitch, kiss Kohli’s edge and land in the hands of slip, the pressure released from the match like oxygen from an untied balloon.

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Not that India had no good batsmen left. Rather that they possessed no one else of the freakish ability to make the impossible a reality.

Two overs later Lyon castled Murali Vijay and India were 4-55 and cooked like a Christmas ham.

So much of the focus in this match has been on the exhilarating pace of the pitch and the bruising work of both side’s quicks. Bouncers have smashed helmets. Length balls have bruised fingers.

Each session has had at least one and sometimes several spells of genuinely intimidating quick bowling. Cricket fans are captivated by the sight of fast bowlers pummelling batsmen in this manner.

As the quicks have hugged the spotlight, Lyon has quietly gone about dominating for the second Test in a row.

At Adelaide he was destined to shine as that slow, abrasive surface was made for spinners.

Here, however, he was meant to be a sidekick for Australia’s big, bad seamers.

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But Lyon is in such rich form that he now appears capable of flourishing on almost any kind of surface. He is no longer a weapon on suitable pitches, instead all pitches are becoming suitable for his weapons.

Nathan Lyon bowls (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

In his past 20 Tests, Lyon has hoarded an incredible 110 wickets. While he is still yet to crack South Africa for some reason, there appears to be no other conditions which trouble him.

Lyon was Australia’s best bowler in the last Ashes in England, excelled in New Zealand soon after that, has a great record in the West Indies, continually performs well in Australia, and last year finally conquered Asia.

It was that success on the subcontinent which seems to have pushed Lyon to another level. To that point of his career there was a question mark over his ability to exploit Asian conditions.

He put paid to that over the course of six Tests in India and Bangladesh during which he grabbed 41 wickets at 19, including five five-wicket hauls.

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Prior to that tour, Lyon had struggled versus India, averaging 37 from 10 Tests. Now he is their nightmare opponent, having grabbed 34 wickets at 23 in his last six Tests against them.

Now this current series heads to the two venues where Lyon had looked likely to be most pivotal – the MCG and the SCG. Lyon’s ability to bowl long, frugal spells will be key at Melbourne, which has been the flattest Test pitch in Australia in recent years.

Then at the SCG, where Australia sometimes play two spinners, he should get plenty of purchase from early in the match and footmarks to aim at as it wears on.

After years of being an unfashionable cricketer – a finger spinner in a country besotted by pace – Lyon is now Australia’s main man.

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