THE SPIN KING

THE SPIN KING

Off-spinner Lyon Wrecks India Once Again,

• Indore: Not for the first time, off-spinner Nathan Lyon has torn the heart out of the Indian batting lineup to put Australia on the verge of a famous victory, earning his second-best Test figures in the process. Not for the first time, he has admitted he works best with Steve Smith as captain.

• In a tumultuous Test match in which it fell on Lyon's well-weathered fingers to bail Australia out, he did what he does best: find that perfect length for the pitch, bowl attacking lines, try to be superhuman in his consistency, and bag the wicket if one slightly turns or goes with the arm.

• The perfect example on Day Two of the Indore Test was the dismissal of India's wicketkeeper KS Bharat: rip one straight through the batter's defences by getting him to play the wrong line while thinking about possible turn.

• Shubman Gill too will have a slee- pless night, wondering just how he got foxed by the flight. To this perfected formula Lyon has added a booster: bowl around the stumps, again relentlessly, for a majority of his spell, and let help- ful pitches like the one at the Holkar Stadium do the rest.

• Lyon's bowling is a perfect reflection of the fact that he doesn't quite fit the 'flashy genius' mould of some past Aussie spinning greats, but his deeds in the subcontinent speak for themselves.

• "It doesn't matter what wicket I'm playing on. If I can get somebody to defend, I'm very happy. That's the nuts and bolts of my secret, to try and get guys defending me for long periods. That means I'm putting the balls in the right areas. I don't mind if guys hit me. I've been hit for the most number of sixes in Test history.

• Lyon, in essence, is all about persis- tence. In Indore, he found in Smith an old and able ally as a pro-active captain who kept things interesting with restrictive fields and men in catching positions to slowly strangle India.

• "It's up there," Lyon said about Thursday's performance. "No point lying about it. Personal success is great to have, but after Delhi we had some good conversations as a team and I'm proud of the way we've gone about it as a collective.

• "The way Steve Smith's brain works, I enjoy having good conversations with him on cricket. We are really good mates on and off the field. There was a period there when we built some pressure on Pujara (by packing the on-side field). It's not rocket science, really.

• "Start of my career, I think I felt the weight of trying to win games. It was actually my dad who sat me down and said, 'Look, if you do your role, some days you will have success and some days others will. If you are able to identify when it's your time, grab it with both hands.' My dad really simplified it for me, made sure I wasn't overcomplica-ting and putting too much pressure on myself."

• In Indore, he sure identified his mo- ment. Again. And again.