Nathan Lyon.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Sydney: Ace off-spinner Nathan Lyon has already started his homework on rising batting sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal with England spinner Tom Hartley's inputs on the southpaw safely stored in his memory bank ahead of the five-Test Border-Gavaskar series between India and Australia starting from November 22.
Jaiswal, who scored a century on debut in the West Indies last year, scored an astounding 712 runs in the five Test series against England at home earlier this year.
But the pace and bounce on offer on Australian tracks will pose a different challenge for the Mumbaikar.
“I haven't come across him [Jaiswal] yet, but that will be a massive challenge for all us bowlers,” Lyon was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
“The way he (Jaiswal) played against England, I watched that quite closely and thought that was quite amazing.
“I had some really good chats with Tom Hartley (England left-arm spinner) about different ways he went about it to different guys which I found quite interesting.” Lyon had a stint in English county with Lancashire and had an opportunity to share notes with Hartley, who had 20 wickets in four Tests against India and he is someone who has first-hand knowledge of Jaiswal's exploits.
The 36-year-old Lyon, who has 530 wickets from 129 Tests, feels that with so much information “floating around”, Aussies have the best chance to accomplish the “unfinished business” against India.
“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.” Since winning the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar 2-0, Australia have lost the next four series against India -- two to Virat Kohli's side (2016-17, 2018-19), Ajinkya Rahane (2021) and Rohit Sharma (2023).
“If the plans we've spoken about come to true, then I think it will be.” Along with Lyon, Josh Hazlewood is another survivor from the 2014-15 series and conceded Australia's recent results against India present a significant hole in their record.
“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,” Lyon said.
“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,” he said.
Lyon feels that this Australian team under Pat Cummins is slightly different compared to Tim Paine's team that lost back-to-back series against India at home.
“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.” Beating India in a Test series could tick a box in many players’ CV, reckoned Hazlewood.
“There are quite a few players who have never beaten India in a Test series. It's quite astounding to say that,” he said.
“That's one we need to tick off, definitely, in particular at home - we should pretty much win every series here at home. That last series we obviously bowled them out for 36 in Adelaide and we thought here we go, (we are) back at home (and) confident on these grounds."
“People say we played India B in that last Test, but they can sometimes be stronger than the best team. They've got unbelievable depth in all formats and we are starting to see that now,” he added.
Hazlewood said while winning back the Border-Gavaskar trophy is topmost on agenda, the Aussies would also keep an eye on the World Test Championship points table.
“It's always in the background, we have the table up [to see] where we are sitting and what we need to tick off,” he said.
"For me, it's a big one because I didn't get to play the last one in England so that's a burning one for me."