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A magical performance from Nathan Lyon has left Australia on the brink of an upset win over India.
The veteran off-spinner claimed eight wickets, including the last five to fall, to lead the way in bundling the hosts out for 163, and spare the Aussies’ blushes after a nightmarish morning collapse threatened to cede control of the Test after a dominant first day.
The visitors will head into Day 3 needing just 76 runs for victory; no team has ever defended a target that small in Test cricket. Were India to somehow do it, it would break a 141-year record for the lowest successful defended target in the game’s history, the 85 runs Australia and Fred Spofforth held off against England for a famous seven-run win that led to the infamous ‘In Affectionate Remembrance of English Cricket’ newspaper headline that marked the dawn of the Ashes.
A fighting 59 from Cheteshwar Pujara, and a freewheeling 27-ball 26 from Shreyas Iyer, gave India hope of setting Australia an insurmountable target; both fell, however, to incredible fielding efforts, Iyer spectacularly caught by Usman Khawaja close in on the leg side and Pujara snaffled in one hand by Steve Smith at leg slip.
“Certainly, it’s up there as one of my career highlights, but I’m more proud about our group,” Lyon said of his 8-64. “I think at the start of my career I probably felt more the weight of trying to win games in the last couple of innings.
“But it was actually my dad who sat me down and said there’s three or four other bowlers who you’re able to bowl with in partnerships and if you do your role then some days you’re going to have success and some days your mates are.
“My dad just simplified it for me and made sure I wasn’t over-complicating things and putting too much pressure on myself.
“They can be high pressure environments, and if we can stay nice and calm and collected, enjoy the battle.”
Earlier, Australia looked to have thrown away a chance to take the match by the throat when their latest lower-order collapse saw them slump from 4/186 to 197 all out, as Ravichandran Ashwin and Umesh Yadav ran riot.
Defying the spin-friendly conditions, Yadav found movement off the surface to trap Cameron Green LBW for 21, a controversial decision only upheld when ball-tracker found the ball hitting a sliver of leg stump.
With Peter Handscomb having been caught at short leg off Ashwin the over before, India suddenly had an opening, and they made the most of it. Alex Carey played the wrong line to be LBW to Ashwin for just three, while Yadav cleaned up the tail – and Mitchell Starc and Todd Murphy’s stumps – to finish with figures of 3/12 from just five overs.
Having taken six wickets for 11 runs, India had ensured a first-innings lead that looked set to soar well past triple figures was restricted to only 88. But batting remained a perilous task for the home side.
Shubman Gill attempted to take the fight to Lyon but perished almost instantly, finding only air on his wild heave down the ground to be clean bowled; when Rohit Sharma followed after being struck plumb in front, taking a review with him, India’s most aggressive two batters were back in the sheds with the deficit still beyond 50.
Nathan Lyon. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
A 22-run stand between Pujara and Virat Kohli attempted to spark a rescue effort, before the latter paid the price for playing back on a pitch with variable bounce. He missed, Matt Kuhnemann found his front pad, and the umpire’s finger was raised.
When Ravindra Jadeja, unable to escape Lyon’s suffocating pressure, finally missed a straight one – the Aussies needing to review after another poor umpiring decision from Joel Wilson – India were, in effect, 4/-10.
Recognising that attack was the best form of defence, Iyer did just that after tea; dispatching Kuhnemann in particular whenever the Queenslander dropped short, and with Pujara lifting his rate in response, the pressure was put firmly back on the Australians.
The remaining deficit disappeared in the blink of an eye, and amid a flurry of boundaries, the Indian lead swelled to 25.
Enter Starc: brought back into the attack with the spinners being hit, Iyer took the bait; a half-volley elegantly whipped, but close enough to Khawaja at short mid-wicket diving athletically to his left. It was the sort of fielding effort to change the course of a match, and on any other day would have been the undisputed highlight.
But that was to come from Smith; with KS Bharat and Ashwin becoming Lyon victims four and five, Pujara had become the final hope, reaching a stellar 50 and even blasting the Australian veteran for a rare six over deep mid-wicket.
However, on 59, a flick brought his downfall; tickling Lyon down the legside, Pujara watched in horror as Smith, wrong-footed going to his left at leg slip, stuck out his right hand to see the ball nestle in safely. The catch of the match without a doubt, and in all likelihood the series as well.
“This is no disrespect to anyone else in that changing room, but I don’t think anyone else is catching it,” Lyon said. “That’s just me bowling from one end and looking up and seeing Steve Smith at slip or leg slip and having that confidence as a bowler.
“Yes he has dropped a couple here and there but I wouldn’t trade him for anyone. It shows the quality of cricketer he is that we see at training the different methods he is coming up with to try and get better and try and improve.
“This is someone who has played 95 Test matches. Hats off to Smithy, he did all the work. I’m not surprised, but it was a massive moment to finish off the day strongly.”
Yadav’s stay was only long enough to add another shocker to Joel Wilson’s burgeoning tally, an LBW found to be spinning well down leg; he’d hole out to Cameron Green at the long boundary the very next ball to hand Lyon his seventh.
Axar Patel remained immovable, but the Aussies did enough off Starc’s final over to ensure Lyon had six balls at number eleven Mohammed Siraj. He’d need just three, tempting Siraj down the track with flight before the ball skidded low to leave the Indian seamer comprehensively bowled.
Finishing with figures of 8/64, only his 8/50 in Bengaluru six years ago rank ahead of it in Lyon’s glittering career. That haul ended in bitter defeat; but surely, surely, this eight-for will prove a match-winning one.
MOST WICKETS IN AUSTRALIA-INDIA TESTS
Nathan Lyon (Aus) – 113 wickets
Anil Kumble (Ind) – 111
Ravichandran Ashwin (Ind) – 106
Harbhajan Singh (Ind) – 95
Ravindra Jadeja (Ind) – 84
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