Axar, Ashwin aren't tailenders, says Lyon

'The two Indian spinners are capable of batting in the top-six of most teams in Test cricket', said Nathan Lyon

Little over a year ago, Nathan Lyon played his 100th Test at the Gabba, but even as the joy of the moment was still to sink in, his dreams were shattered when India chased down 328 runs for a memorable win.

Cheteshwar Pujara was bowled out for nought on his 100th Test, and Lyon was not about to extend any sympathy towards the Indian No.3.

“Pujara making it to 100 Tests, it’s special,” said Lyon, who finished with a fifer on Saturday on the second day of the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test here.

“I give Pujara praise for the way he has gone about it. We have had some unbelievable battles in the past. I would like to congratulate him on the amazing milestone. I have been lucky to tick it off the list myself.

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“But to be honest, I had my dream shattered too, in my case it was India chasing down 300 at the Gabba (laughs). So, it doesn’t always work out the way that you want it to,” he added.

At least, Pujara has an innings left in him to make amends for the first-innings failure. And by the looks of it, the Indian side could do with a solid knock from him and the others in the fourth innings.

India trail Australia by 62 runs with three days left in the contest, and the batters haven’t looked particularly impressive against Australia’s three-prong spin unit. Had it not been for R Ashwin and Axar Patel’s 114-run alliance, India would have been in a far worse situation.

When asked about India’s lower-order and their success, Lyon said: “Let’s get one thing straight, they are not the lower-order. Axar and Ashwin can easily be batting in the top six of most teams in Test cricket. Yeah, again, they are not the lower-order, India just have a very long top-order.”

The last time Lyon was playing in New Delhi, he had finished with nine wickets in the match, including a seven-for in the first innings. Asked about his reason for success on this pitch, the offie said: “There is good bounce and it offers good turn too. You just have to remain consistent on this pitch, focus on the stock ball, and you eventually get rewarded. The trick is to try and get them to defend. Once they’re in that space, it’s easy to nick them off.”