It is no secret that Ravichandran Ashwin has been on Aussie minds even before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series began. They reportedly hired a duplicate ‘Mahesh Pithiya’ as a net bowler in their training camp at Bengaluru. However, their training did not work, as the veteran India spinner walked out with eight scalps in the first Test at Nagpur. He jumped to the second position on the Test bowler rankings, 21 rating points behind Australia captain Pat Cummins after his remarkable performance.
However, it was not just Australia batter who had a rent-free space for Ravichandran Ashwin in their heads. His only contemporary in modern-day spin greats, Nathan Lyon, recently revealed he spent long hours trying to decode Ashwin’s style and technique before flying into the subcontinent for the high-octane test series against India.
Nathan Lyon has four career Test wickets more than Ashwin
“I’m not going to pin myself against Ash. I think the way Ashwin has gone about it has been remarkable, and his record speaks for himself. To be honest, I am a totally different bowler to Ash. Have I have sat down and watched a lot of footage of Ashwin before coming over here? Yes, a 100 per cent. I’ve spent a lot of time sitting at home in front of the laptop, driving my wife mad. It’s all about learning. The best thing about this game is that we are constantly learning, trying to grow and get better by watching your opposition, and that’s one of the biggest learning curves,” Lyon said.
Nathan Lyon, who is at a career Test wickets of 461, four better than Ashwin’s 457, did not shy away from the fact that Ashwin has a lot of tricks in his bag. He acknowledged this quality about Ashwin, saying he would like to develop a few of those skill sets too.
“There’s a lot of talk. Lots he has taught me about. Sitting down and speaking to him, there’s been a lot that he’s taught me, and that’s just not for here but even in Australia. There’s a couple of skill sets that Ash has which I would like to develop. That’s why I feel like I can still get better. So that’s what’s driving me,” he added.
