Out of the 97 overs bowled by Australia on the third day of the Adelaide Test, 30 came from Nathan Lyon. He was introduced into the attack as early as in the seventh over. While he was smacked around by the Indian batsmen initially, as the day progressed, the off-spinner exploited the rough marks on the pitch created by the fast bowlers to his optimum advantage.
He got a couple of deliveries to jump after hitting the rough to get the big wickets of half-centurions, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.
At the end of the day, Lyon was pleased with his effort of 2 for 103 but was quick to point out that the Aussies still have five Indian wickets to pick for 148 runs if they are to take a first innings lead.
“It felt pretty good, the ball was coming out nicely from my hand,” Lyon said. “But having said that, we are still halfway through the job. We still need five wickets tomorrow morning before we bat. Let’s see how it goes.”
When asked whether the hosts were surprised by India’s fightback after the first two one-sided days, Lyon said they were expecting the opposition to come strong.
“They are a team full of superstars. Credit to Virat Kohli – he led his team very well. The match is still very much in the balance. If we are able to take these five wickets with a lead, the pressure is going to be on them when we come in for our second innings. That’s our aim.”
Lyon got some balls to turn and spit off the wicket and rendered the Indian batsmen in trouble. He thanked the fast bowlers for leaving their footmarks for him to extract something out of the wicket.
“Thanks to Mitch for bowling round the wicket and creating those footmarks for me. Hopefully, he does that again so I can use them tomorrow as well,” Lyon said with a cheeky grin.
“We knew that if I was able to keep landing the ball on the rough, something was going to give. Luckily one popped up and there was a nice catch for Watto,” he said recalling Rahane’s dismissal. “It shows this is a good Test match wicket. There is something for the spinners but as we saw if the batsmen get in it is pretty hard to get them out.
“There are signs of deterioration in the pitch, especially with pacers mixing it by coming round and over the wicket. That is good because it means the game will move forward. There is something in there for everyone and that is exciting.”
He said the wicket of Virat at the fag end of the day prevented it from being India’s day. “It was a great breakthrough and it was great to see Mitch get the reward for some pretty hard toil in the day. That wicket has probably put the day in balance. Had Virat not played that shot and they were still four down, the advantage would have been theirs.”
