Best to play Lyon in the arc: Vengsarkar
MUMBAI: Nathan Lyon is doing what even Shane Warne couldn’t manage --- have the Indian batsmen under pressure every time they face him. His bounce, sharp turn and relentless accuracy has had Virat Kohli’s men in a spin.
The wicket at Perth’s new stadium is expected to favour pace, but Kohli and Co will be equally wary of the threat posed by the off-spinner, who took six wickets in the second innings at Adelaide.
As India search for answers to tackle Lyon, former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar, who was strong against spinners, felt the best way to target Lyon was playing between mid-off and mid-on.
“It will be safer to play him in the arc from mid-off and mid-on, lift him over mid-on when you get the opportunity and force him to push the mid-on back, which will open up the area for singles,” said Vengsarkar.
He was effusive in his praise of the spinner. “Lyon bowls that length where he makes you play on the front foot and pitches just outside off-stump; he is a big turner of the ball and extracts bounce, making him dangerous because you don’t know how much the ball is going to turn. He is relentlessly accurate. You can’t drive him through covers.”
Former India off-spinners Erapalli Prasanna and Shivlal Yadav, who both had a good record on Australian wickets, urged India batsmen not to try any fancy shot to unsettle Lyon. “Paddle-sweeps and reversesweeps can be one-off, you can’t build your innings on that. However good you may be against spin or pace, if you are bowling well you will be successful, and Lyon’s percentage of good balls versus bad balls is 80:20. Our batsmen will have to grind and stay on the wicket,” said Prasanna, one of the famed spin quartet.
Though Cheteshwar Pujara hit 123 and 71, Ajinkya Rahane got a 70 and Kohli 30-odd, none was in control against Lyon. Adeappeared laide was not a one-off. Lyon simply loves to bowl against India. He has 72 wickets in 15 Tests with 38 scalps at home in eight Tests, the most against any opposition.
With Mitchell Starc in the team, Lyon becomes more effective as he uses the rough created by the left-arm pacer. Going down the wicket to his flighted deliveries was a good ploy, but he put that bit of doubt in the Indian batsmen’s minds by stationing a silly mid-off and getting Rohit Sharma caught there.
To his outside-the-off-stump line, reverse sweep is an option, but he had the Indian think-tank thinking by having Ajinkya Rahane caught at backward point playing that shot.
Yadav said Lyon is irrepressible because he never stops attacking, even when the batsman is on top. “He has a big heart, even in 2014 when Virat Kohli was attacking him (at Adelaide), he continued to attack, didn’t stop flighting and pitching on the off-stump.
Even if Lyon has a silly mid-off, batsmen will have to be decisive in their footwork and come down the track against him.”