Plan was to keep Rahane from sweeping and it worked: Lyon

With four wickets in the final session to put Australia in control of the match, Nathan Lyon was the star of the day for the visitors as the long-winded nears its end. It was especially rewarding for the off-spinner given the Indians were cruising along through a major part of the day. “As the day progressed, the pitch started to show variations with bounce and spin but nothing has changed too much. “It’s hard work playing cricket over here but the way we went about it and tried to dot them up and tried to build pressure on India was fantastic. “The Indians have been playing well, especially Ajinkya (Rahane); he’s been sweeping me a lot. My plan was to come around the wicket and bring my stock ball and try to be more effective. It worked quite well in the end,” he said. The conditions here are perhaps closest to home for the 29-year old and Lyon agreed that he tried to extract bounce from the pitch. “It was closer to home, where I try to generate some bounce. Bounce is probably my biggest weapon where I am getting guys caught bat-pad or in the slips. I enjoyed the challenge against one of the best sides in the world in their home conditions,” he explained. Pat for Cummins Lyon was also all praise for fast bowler Pat Cummins, returning to Test cricket after a gap of six years and impressive on the day. “I think he showed he’s really world-class and I think Josh Hazlewood has been the same. I reckon it’s great for Australian cricket and exciting to see Patty coming back to the team and bowling fast.” With India playing five bowlers, Lyon — asked if the Australians team missed a trick in going with four — refused to be drawn into it. “You have to ask (coach) Lehmann and (captain) Smith about that. But I am confident enough of the eleven that has been picked for Australia, that we are good enough to get the job done. If that responsibility falls on the four bowlers out there, then so be it.

“We have come a long way in this series and have been pushing each other to the maximum. We want to compete hard against India so there are a massive couple of days ahead for us,” he said.