Veteran India off-spinner R Ashwin has invited Nathan Lyon for a meet-up after his Australian counterpart expressed admiration towards him.

Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Ashwin said he was open to meet Lyon in India as well as Australia.

Ashwin also extended his best wishes to Lyon for the first Test against Pakistan, which got underway on December 14 in Perth.

"We can do a home and away for the catch up too. Sydney - your choice. Chennai - Soup with Muthu and chaat at OSB (West Mambalam). Go well tomorrow and see u soon," Ashwin tweeted.

Earlier, Nathan Lyon opened up on the impact of R Ashwin in his career, calling the latter one of his "biggest coaches".

"You look at Ashwin, he's a world-class bowler and somebody I've watched closely from the start of his career We've gone head-to-head many times in different conditions around the world. I've got nothing but respect for Ashwin and the way he's gone about it," Lyon said, as quoted by cricket.com.au.

"I've definitely learned from him. There's an opportunity to learn from the people you play against, and without knowing it he's probably been one of my biggest coaches in a way. It's pretty amazing to see we're both creeping up to that 500 mark, and we'll see where we end up.

"Hopefully at the end of our career we'll sit down and have a nice feed and a beer and talk about it," he added.

Nathan Lyon is eyeing a major milestone in the home Test series against Pakistan. He is set to become the eighth bowler to claim 500 Test wickets and only the fourth spinner after Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan and Anil Kumble to achieve this feat.

During the series, Lyon is likely to pip Ashwin in the race to 500 Test scalps as the Indian spinner has 489 wickets to his name.

Ashwin is expected to return to action during the two-match Test series against South Africa, starting December 26 in Centurion.