4 days Ago
Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon said they were left surprised by India's wild celebrations after saving the follow-on Day 4 of the third Test at the Gabba and Brisbane. India captain Rohit Sharma, head coach Gautam Gambhir and star batter Virat Kohli jumped out of their seats , cheered and roared when Akash Deep steered a Pat Cummins delivery over the gully fielder to collect the most important boundary of India's first innings that helped them avoid the follow-on. Lyon said there was a discussion in the Australian dressing room about India's celebrations.
“A few of us as well after play, we spoke about that and we were surprised by some of their reactions, especially the way we’ve gone about this game and I think we can be extremely proud about the way we’ve gone about it,” Lyon told Fox Cricket. “We’ve driven this game and to get it into the position we find ourselves in at the moment, we feel like that’s a pretty big message to us that they’re feeling confident in where they are in the game. But I honestly feel like there’s a lot of cricket left in this game.
” Australia making India bat again seemed inevitable when Ravindra Jadeja was out caught in the deep for a fantastic 77-run knock. It was India's wicket to fall, and they still needed 33 runs to reach the magical figure of 246 to avoid the follow-on. The last pair of Akash Deep and Jasprit Bumrah then put on a gutsy show with the bat.
Against all odds, they kept Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon at bay to put on India's highest last-wicket partnership in Australia in over 30 years. And when the moment finally came with Akash Deep hitting a boundary to save the follow-on, the celebration in the Indian dressing room knew no bounds. Gambhir was out of his seat, jumping for joy and exchanging high-fives with Kohli and Rohit.
The celebrations continued as Akash Deep smacked Cummins for a hug six a couple of balls later. The duo got a grand reception when returned to the dressing room after stumps were called. ‘Looked like India’s top-order didn't wanna bat': Lyon Australia's leading wicket-taker among active cricketers, Lyon, said India's top order perhaps did not want to bat in the fading lights.
"Looked like their top order did not want to bat if we enforced the follow-on," he said. The great off-spinner agreed that it became very difficult for Australia to push for the follow-on once fast bowler Josh Hazlewood was off the field after bowling just one over on Day 4. "Pushing to enforce the follow-on was pretty challenging with Josh out.
Mitch and Pat, they've been brilliant for Australia for a number of years and I'm very privileged to be part of this Australian bowling attack. Their work ethic is excellent. We pride ourselves on our fielding.
And we did that watching the Australian guys before us," he said. It was later revealed that Hazlewood has a strain in right calf and would go on to miss the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy..
