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Lyon's 'biggest weapon' - bounce - helps Australia retaliate

09:31PM Sun 26 Mar, 2017

In many ways, Day 2 of the series decider in Dharamsala was a microcosm of Australia's surprisingly sturdy series. After a disappointing opening day, where they lost the initiative after a dominant start, Australia's struggles continued and their backs were firmly against the wall during several junctures.
India recovered after the early loss of opener Murali Vijay withstanding the fire and brimstone from paceman Pat Cummins, who was eventually rewarded with the wicket of Lokesh Rahul in the second session. Still, despite Cummins's best efforts, Australia were only able to eke out two wickets till Tea as India chiselled away in a determined effort to build a handy lead.
Australia needed some inspiration and once again they found it at the most opportune moment. They've had a knack of someone putting their hand up right at the point of despair and it was Nathan Lyon, Australia's off-spinner, coming to the party after Tea.
Lyon spun a web through the stout Indian bats to claim four wickets and leave the series delicately poised. The New South Welshman had memorably starred on the second Test's opening day with an eight-wicket haul but hadn't made much of an impact since.
With his team desperately needing breakthroughs, a confident Lyon summoned extra zip and bounce off a favourable pitch to run through India's middle-order. Straight after Tea, he got the pivotal wicket of the indefatigable Cheteshwar Pujara, who inside edged to short leg, triggering a collapse and tilt the match back into Australia's favour.
Speaking to reporters after the second day's play, Lyon admitted he enjoyed bowling on a pitch more reminiscent of the Australian decks. The 29-year-old is not a renowned rampant turner of the ball but relies on bounce and variation to trouble batsmen. And thus, he's been particularly successful on home turf but has often struggled on more sedate pitches overseas.
"After bowling a couple of overs on it before Lunch, I sat down and thought about what it (pitch) is similar to and it was closer to a home wicket where I can try and generate the bounce because the bounce is my biggest weapon where I am getting guys caught at bat-pad and slips," Lyon said. "I went back to knowing how I bowl which is probably the best way I should bowl just backing my skill and enjoy the challenge of playing the best side in the world in their home conditions."
Amid his final session heroics, Lyon claimed the vital wicket of stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane with a quicker delivery in a successfully well-worked plan. Lyon revealed mixing up his speeds was a "tactic".
"If you looked at the way the Indians have been playing me, especially Ajinkya, he has been sweeping me a lot," he said. "My plan was to come over the wicket and try and get him not to sweep me. I can bring my stock ball to be more effective and it worked well. I spoke to Steve Smith about that at Tea and was happy with the way it came out in the end."
Showing a healthy dose of resolute in tough conditions, Australia dug themselves out of a hole to ensure their dreams of winning a famous series in India is still well and truly on the cards. Lyon said he was "proud" of Australia's fight during a crux Day 2.
"It's hard work playing cricket over here but I thought the way we went about it and bowled well in partnerships and tried to dot them up and tried to build pressure on India was fantastic," he said. "I reckon it is an unbelievable feeling to be pretty evenly poised after Day 2. Coming over here, everyone wrote us off and to be in this position in the last Test, one-all and pressure slightly on India is fantastic."
Once again in this see-sawing series, there isn't much separating the evenly matched teams and Day 3 looms as another pivotal juncture. Lyon said he was hopeful Australia could wrap up India's innings and gain a slight lead.
"It depends how well we come out and bowl," he said. "We saw Patty (Cummins) created a chance there with the new ball, so if we can come out and bowl well again tomorrow - cricket's a funny game so we just need to come out and do exactly the same thing as what we did to the top order.
"We've got some world-class bowlers in our shed and if we can go out there and bowl well in partnerships, create chances and push on from there," he added.
© Cricbuzz