NEW DELHI: Nathan Lyon, Australia’s seasoned off-spinner, expressed his intense desire to turn the tables and ensure the hosts finish their unfinished business against India by securing victory in the upcoming five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series on home soil later this year.
Australia has not emerged victorious in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home since their 2-0 series triumph in 2014/15. In subsequent home series in 2018/19 and 2020/21, they suffered defeats, with India staging a remarkable comeback from being bowled out for 36 in Adelaide to clinch the series 2-1 through memorable victories at the MCG and Gabba, along with a thrilling draw in Sydney.
“It’s been ten years of unfinished business, it’s been a long time, and I know we’re extremely hungry to turn things around especially here at home. Don’t get me wrong, India is an absolute superstar side and extremely challenging but I’m extremely hungry to turn things around and make sure we get that trophy back,” Lyon was quoted by ESPNcricinfo
“Feel like we are a different team to a couple of years ago, we are on a journey of becoming a great Australian cricket team. We’re definitely not there but we are along that journey and have been playing some decent cricket.”
Lyon anticipates that bowling to left-handed opener Yashasvi Jaiswal will pose a significant challenge for the Australian bowling attack.
However, the veteran spinner, with 530 Test wickets to his credit, mentioned that he utilized his time playing for Lancashire in county cricket to gather intelligence on the Indian batsmen through conversations with left-arm spinner Tom Hartley, who was part of England’s Test tour of the sub-continent earlier this year.
“I haven’t come across him (Jaiswal) yet, but that will be a massive challenge for all us bowlers. The way he played against England, I watched that quite closely and thought that was quite amazing. I had some really good chats with Tom Hartley about different ways he went about it to different guys which I found quite interesting,” Lyon revealed.
“I love talking about cricket, so if I can talk to someone who has played Test cricket I might be able to pick up something I’m not aware of. There’s so much knowledge floating around this game that we can always tap into.”
