5 days Ago By Megha Mallick
Ace Australia spinner Nathan Lyon has said that Ravichandran Ashwin is an 'incredible' bowler and having gone against him for the most part of his Test career, he has learnt a lot from him. Ashwin and Lyon have faced each other on numerous occasions in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and yet another battle between them beckons. Not many visiting spinners have good records in Australia, on pitches which mostly offer pace and bounce.
But Ashwin has been successful Down Under and Lyon has lauded the Indian bowler. The Australia spinner praised Ashwin for his ability to adapt to any condition across the world and the intent to look for new tricks to fox opposition batters. "Ash is an incredible bowler.
I’ve gone head-to-head with him for my whole career, so I’ve learned a lot from Ash," Lyon said while speaking to Fox Cricket. “He’s an incredibly smart bowler and he’s able to learn and adapt very quickly and I think the best bowlers in the world can do that," Lyon added. The Australia spinner has said that before earlier Test tours of India, he studied footage of Ashwin's bowling on the dusty pitches, which is why Lyon credits the former as one of his most influential teachers.
"He’s taught me a lot. I’m a big believer that the players that you play against are the best coaches that you eventually come across," Lyon said. “I’ve watched a lot of his footage heading over to India, the way he goes about it here in Australia, see if I can pick up anything," Lyon added.
The Australia spinner is also similar to Ashwin in the sense that he too has been able to extract some advantage out of tracks which are not conducive to spin and has been successful. "I know Jadeja reads all of this stuff, so I can’t share all my secrets. My big thing is spinning up the back of the ball and getting bounce, but it’s a hard craft to be able to do that in Australia," Lyon said.
The Australia spinner might not be up against Ashwin soon as the latter didn't have a great time in the New Zealand series and might be benched for the Perth Test, with Washington Sundar featuring in the playing XI. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Cricket, Sports and around the world..
