I had to curb my ego: Lyon
Nathan Lyon has not had the best of time on the subcontinent before 2017. For long a reluctant strike bowler in Australia's ranks, Lyon had failed to impress in the spin-friendly conditions of Sri Lanka and India, averaging an ordinary 42.57 for his 42 wickets from 11 matches ending in their 3-0 drubbing in Sri Lanka last August. But since this year's four-Test series in India, Lyon's Asian fortunes has seen a sharp turnaround, and after picking up his second five-for on the two-Test tour of Bangladesh, Lyon credited the change to learning to curb his ego and adapting to subcontinental conditions while also keeping a bit of his Australian methods intact.
“I've watched a lot of footage of [Ravichandran] Ashwin, who in my book is probably the No. 1 spinner in the world. So in these conditions it's all about adapting and learning and probably putting your ego aside, and what works for me in Australia probably doesn't really work here in the subcontinent,” said Lyon after the first day's play in the second Test in Chittagong yesterday. “Saying that it's also my strength, so I can't go too far from that, I have to put my ego away and really bowl with confidence, in my terms 'bowl ugly'.”
His six Tests so far in the subcontinent this year have yielded 33 wickets at the vastly improved average of 21.75. It will no doubt please him that his third five-wicket haul in a row in as many Tests -- also taking him to seventh in the list of Australian wicket-takers with 261 -- came on an unresponsive wicket. He realised the docility of the pitch and cleverly mixed his pace, hurling in some quicker ones that skidded off the surface and getting the first four Bangladesh batsmen trapped in the crease. It was the first time in Test history that the top four batsmen in a Test innings were out leg-before to the same bowler.
“That [bowling ugly] might be round-arm for me, trying to undercut the ball a little bit more but using my stock ball as a variation,” said Lyon, who operates as a classical off-spinner at home, flighting the ball and inviting loop and turn. “I think I've learnt a lot in the subcontinent and I'm embracing the challenge,
“The pitch was pretty good, to be fair, there's not much spin there at all. I think I bowled four straight ones early and all hit the pads.”
Lyon said that yesterday's heat and humidity was one of the toughest of his cricketing life and had words of praise for Australia's lone pacer Pat Cummins, who looked on the verge of collapse by the time stumps were drawn on the first day.
It speaks to how cautious Australia are in the aftermath of an unexpected defeat that on a day that they lost the toss and still kept the opposition to 253 for six on a good pitch, Lyon though honours were even.
“It's pretty even. They played well. Sabbir [Rahman] and the skipper [Mushfiqur Rahim] batted really well. But at the end of the day I was pretty proud of our bowlers' efforts to go out there and keep fighting all the way through to the 90th over."
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