Last Update: March 02, 2023, 18:34 IST
Nathan Lyon spread his net on the second day to decimate India’s batting line-up (AP Image)
Nathan Lyon (8/64) ran through India’s batting with a brilliant display of spin-bowling on a track with plenty of purchase for the slower bowlers.
Credit the pitch as much as you like but it was a lion-hearted performance by Nathan Lyon in the Indian second innings of the third Test in Indore. He did all the dirty work in the first innings as well, scoring three runs and allowing Matthew Kuhnmann to reap the rewards for his first fifer from the other end. However, the second innings saw Lyon in the lead as they put up a masterclass.
Even if the surface helps, it is important to bowl in the right areas after overs. This was evident in the first half of the morning session, where both Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel failed to make any headway as they bowled too full of pitch. Lyon might have seen this and more importantly how R Ashwin played the length and India Back in the game during that probing spell after drinks.
Lyon stuck to a similar plan when it came to bowling but the 31st over of the innings was a testament to the quality of the off spin bowling. The 35-year-old presented the perfect recipe for success on this track and showed how being a little quicker in the afternoon session was ideal.
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magic over
He starts with two balls from the good length spot to Pujara. The distinctive off-spinner became a right-handed batsman with pace in the early 90s. The moment Jadeja came on strike, he upped the pace further (96.6 kmph) and lofted one to the left-hander from the good length spot. Clearly beaten by the pace, Jadeja could not get the bat down in time, but the angle saved him with a loud LBW shout.
Next ball, Lyon has everyone beat as he bowls very slow (88.2 kmph), turns big and goes past Jadeja’s defense and makes it difficult for Alex Carey to complete the grab. Jadeja was completely square on that occasion and the extra bounce had shaken him a bit. Still recovering from the last two deliveries, Jadeja did it by drift, not turn. Probably played the wrong line and hitting the ball below the knee meant three raids all the way. The wicket ball was again fast (94.3 kmph) and the angles created by Lyon in that over were too much for a batsman of Jadeja’s quality.
Six of Lyon’s last eight wickets came from the good length spot and the deliveries were a bit short compared to the other four wickets to get rid of Jadeja. He bowled hard and kept using pitch and angle with the right mix of spin and drift.
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Prior to the masterful over, Lyon dismissed openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill cheaply. While Gill threw away his wicket with a careless shot, for Rohit it was like an action replay from the Delhi Test. The only difference is that he was bowled there and LBW here. On both occasions, there was an error in judging the length which caused the curtains to come down.
Lyon continued to work at 90 kmph and bowled a quick delivery to get past the defense of KS Bharath in the 41st over of the Indian innings. Bharat was looking to defend one on the front foot but played for turn which was not there. That ball caught its line and hit the top of the off stump. Offy trapped Ashwin to bring up his fourth and later his 23rd half-century in Tests.
The highlight would have been the sixth wicket as he dismissed the well-set Cheteshwar Pujara but the credit for that wicket goes to Steve Smith and no one else. Pujara lofted one ball down the pads and tried to recover it, which he did, but the alert Smith reacted in no time and lofted one in the air, diving to his right. From there it was mere formality as he wasted little time in getting rid of the tail and putting Australia in a match-winning position. As Vikram Rathour mentioned in the post-day presser of Day 1, this innings was going to be very crucial for the hosts and they would have to bat big.
However, Lyon had other plans and was rewarded for staying at length and then working his magic again and again from the same spot. On such pitches, where everything is happening from anywhere, batsmen tend to focus more on the movement of the pitch and in the process start paying less attention to the hand. This is where subtle changes to grip, seam position and release points become more effective.
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