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Sydney - As Nathan Lyon gets ready for a long and hard tour of India with Australia he has been studying the methods of number one Test bowler Ravichandran Ashwin.
Lyon will arrive in Dubai for a pre-tour camp slightly ahead
of the bulk of the squad along with fellow spinner Steve O'Keefe and a few
other players and has been preparing in the film room.
Lyon told cricket.com.au: “It’s going to be a massive
challenge.
“We’re probably going to have to play a different brand of cricket to what we’re used to out here in Australia.
“In saying that, we need to go over there and back our
skills whether that’s with the bat, ball or in the field, we have to go out and
do all things well.
“I’m going to have to look at my game and really focus on
the way Ashwin plans his day out.
“I’m doing a lot of footage work now in the lead up to
India.
“I’m trying to learn, I’m still learning and hopefully I can
take my past experiences over to India and compete.
“I think that’s the big thing for Australia, if we can go
over there and compete and fight hard, who knows?”
The enormity of the task ahead of Australia is not lost on
Lyon or any of his teammates, they will be well aware that India haven't lost a
Test at home in 19 outings and haven't been defeated in a series on home soil
since 2012.
Lyon has been analysing the craft of Ashwin and when asked
what exactly he was looking at replied: “Just the way he sets up his overs to
left-handers and right-handers, the speeds, trajectories and different
variations he bowls.
“He’s obviously a world-class spinner over there in those
conditions.
“If I can try and take a bit of knowledge out of just
watching him I’m more than happy to try and put that into place.”
Lyon struggled to make the kind of impact the Sri Lankan
spinners did when they visited the island nation last year and is looking to
improve in Asia.
He added: “I know my traditional off-spin doesn’t work as
effectively over there, but I still believe your strength is your strength and
you shouldn’t go too far away from it.
“I’m going to have to bring in a couple of different
variations of the trajectory of my off-breaks but I will still be bowling my
typical stock ball because I still believe my best ball will get anybody out in
the world.
“I’m going to have to be adaptable and to move forward.”
England took four spinners to India and would end up using
five on the tour after Liam Dawson was called in for the injured Zafar Ansari
but Lyon feels two frontline spinners should be enough.
Lyon went on: “I actually think the two quicks, a batting all-rounder - whether that’s a fast bowler or a spinner - and two lead spinners is
brilliant.
“You’ve got Steve Smith who can bowl leg-spin, he’s quite
handy at that, so you’ve already got three spinners there if you go in with two
spinners and ‘Smudger’ (Smith).
“I believe if you go in with two quicks and two spinners and
a bowling all-rounder - generally a fast (bowling) all-rounder to give the
likes of Starcy, Hazlewood or Birdy a rest - I’m all for that and you put the
responsibility on your two main spinners to get the job done.”
Lyon opined that self-belief was the key to success in
India: “You have to go over there and believe you can win.
“That’s one of the rules when you put the Baggy Green on.
“You look at the Melbourne Test match. We walked out there
on the last day believing we can win and we pulled it off.
“It’s going to be hard to win 4-0, I’m not going to say
we’re not going to, it’s going to be very difficult.
“But if we can go out there and believe we can win from any
situation playing cricket for Australia then we’re heading in the right
direction.
“I believe we have to be adaptable, play outside our comfort zone and compete hard.”
