Indian spinner R Ashwin was called a ‘smart bowler’ by Australian veteran Nathan Lyon, who also stated that he learned a lot from his counterpart, ahead of the opening Test of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024) series.
With both spinners reaching important career milestones, their rivalry, which started in the 2011–12 series, has developed into one of the most intriguing matches in contemporary Test cricket.
Considering that both bowlers made their Test debuts in the same year and achieved the milestone of 500 Test wickets last season, Lyon, who will face off with Ashwin again this summer, looked back on their shared path.
Ashwin outsmarted Lyon in the last Test series between Australia and India in down under in 2020-21. Lyon picked 9 wickets, while Ashwin played a huge role with both the bat and ball in India’s memorable Test series win.
"Ash is an incredible bowler. I've gone head-to-head with him for my whole career, so I've learned a lot from Ash. He's an incredibly smart bowler, and he's able to learn and adapt very quickly, and I think the best bowlers in the world are able to do that,” Lyon told Fox Sport.
Lyon recognized Ashwin as one of his most important teachers, especially when he was getting ready for Indian tours. To better comprehend Ashwin's tactics and raise his own game, Lyon has frequently watched videos of his performances on the spin-friendly wickets of the subcontinent.
"He's taught me a lot. I'm a big believer that the players you compete against are your best coaches. I've watched a lot of his footage heading over to India, the way he goes about it here in Australia, and see if I can pick up anything,” Lyon stated.
Lyon had mastered the art of generating overspin and bounce on Australian pitches, while Ashwin has a quiver full of variations that he bowls relentlessly over a long spell.
Reflecting on his success on pitches that are less conducive to spin, Lyon jokingly referenced Indian star Ravindra Jadeja's close watch on media reports, adding, "I know Jadeja reads all of this stuff, so I can't really share all my secrets."
Lyon did offer insight into his own approach: "My big thing is spinning up the back of the ball and getting bounce, but it's a hard craft to be able to do that in Australia. Your margin for error is extremely small."
Lyon underlined that India has dominated the recent Border-Gavaskar series, with the Australians failing to win a Test series in India for almost ten years, despite Australia's recent victory over India in the World Test Championship final.
"India's got the wood over us in the past few series, but if you're looking at the World Test Championship (final) in England, we were able to beat them there, and I know that should give us a bit of confidence heading into this summer," Lyon said.
Australia and India both are vying to qualify for the WTC 2025 final, being ranked one and two on the WTC table.
