Lyon says he is high on confidence

Dum­ped Australian spinner Nathan Lyon on Friday challenged coach Mickey Arthur’s claim that he is short on confidence, asserting that his trust in his abilities has only gone up after clean bowling Sachin Tendulkar in the Chennai Test.

Lyon was replaced by Xavier Doherty in the Hyderabad Test as he took four wickets at the expense of 244 runs in the series-opener.

Arthur had said that Lyon needs to work on his technique and they want him to get a little bit of confidence back.

“No, I reckon it’s gone up if anything, bowling to the best batsman in the world through the gate. As an off-spinner growing up, that’s what you dream of — my confidence has gone up a level rather than down,” Lyon said.

“To bowl Sachin Tendulkar through the gate you must be doing something right. I was quite happy with that. I went for a few runs here and there, ..but I’ve worked hard in the nets and I’m feeling confident in my own bowling.

“The technical stuff . . . it’s all the same, I haven’t changed anything from when I first started bowling for Australia since I was 16,” Lyon was quoted as saying by Australian media. Lyon was not happy with the treatment meted out to him by the team management but praised Doherty (3/131) and Glenn Maxwell (4/127) for their performances in the Hyderabad Test.

Talking about his Doosra ball, which he describes as Jeff, Lyon said he did not use it in the Chennai Test he did not use it since that was not the place to “bring it out’’.

“If you look at the pitch in Chennai, the best part of the pitch was the middle and I was going to get more variation with my off-break, that’s why Jeff didn’t come out. I always work on it, so hopefully it’s getting better,’’ he added.

Lyon said the kind of ball with which he bowled Tendulkar, has been used once in the past.
“You are going to laugh at this, but it was the ball I bowled Chris Martin at the Gabba (2011-12). Exactly the same thing, through the gate,” he said.