The year is 2011. The 24-year-old off-spinner from Young, Australia strikes gold on the first ball of his international Test debut. As the ball leaves his fingers, the left-handed batsman on strike appears confused—between playing and leaving the delivery that turns away from him, outside the off stump. On its way out, it edges the bat and goes straight into the hands of the fielder at slip. Nathan Lyon, a lanky, tall man with unkempt hair, raises his fist up in the air as his teammates huddle around to congratulate him on dismissing one of Sri Lanka’s best batsmen Kumar Sangakkara off his maiden delivery. He ended up with six wickets at the end of the match.
Twelve years later, over a year after he took his 400th Test wicket, he bowls a short of a good length delivery, forcing Ravindra Jadeja to cut it into the hands of the fielder at short extra cover.
There is one thing that’s common between these two dismissals and in a way sums up the off-break bowler’s domination of a cricketing region—they both came in the subcontinent.
Lyon, now 35 and bald, but with far more experience and skill, etched his name in the history books. Jadeja’s wicket in the third Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, which also happened to be his 128th on Asian soil, took him past legendary spinner Shane Warne. Lyon, now with 137 wickets, is now 10 wickets clear of Warne (127) to have the most wickets in Asia by a player from outside the continent.
“Lyon has played in tough conditions in Australia and hence, mentally very tough. Else, there is no way a spinner can take more than 400 wickets in Test cricket. And, with that experience, he understands what length and speed works on Indian pitches,” says former India cricketer Maninder Singh, who bowled slow left arm orthodox.
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Game of pitches
Unlike spin-friendly pitches that turn square in India, conditions are more suited for wrist spinners than finger spinners in Australia as the pitches offer bounce but not as much turn. Lyon, being a finger spinner, has toiled his way through adverse conditions to make his mark. He, along with Warne, is the only foreign bowler to have wickets in triple figures in India. He happens to be the only bowler to have the most five-wicket hauls (9) against India.
It seems if you have conquered Australian pitches, Indian pitches, in comparison, are a walk in the park.
“What Lyon has got on Indian pitches is more help than Warne received. The latter never used to get the turning tracks wherein the matches get over in 2-2.5 days. Warne bowled on better pitches in India, that is why, perhaps, his success rate was not as good as Lyon’s,” adds Maninder, who describes the comparison between the two cricketers from different eras as “unfair”. However, he is quick to add that Lyon, most probably, would have been successful even on the pitches Warne played on because he is a “very good thinker” of the sport.
Since Lyon began playing red-ball cricket in 2011, Australia has been one of the toughest countries for spinners to ace, and India, in comparison, seems easier. But the Aussie off-spinner has cracked a way to succeed in unfavourable conditions too. His average of 32.87 (at home) may look unimpressive in isolation but when pitted against how spinners have fared in Australia, he is 1.89 times better than other spin bowlers back home.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma regards Lyon as the “best overseas bowler” he has faced in Indian conditions because of his consistency in line and length.
“He [Lyon] does not give you too much. When someone’s bowling with that accuracy, you have got to try and do something different and find ways of scoring runs,” said Sharma, whose dismissal by Lyon in the Indore Test, is one of the crowning jewels of the master spinner’s eight-wicket haul. Sharma comfortably played Lyon’s delivery through the leg side assuming his line, but the latter altered his length slightly. And in one stroke of luck, or perhaps strategy, Sharma was given out LBW. This dismissal is testimony to Lyon’s finesse and grasp over his skillset.
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The art of spin
Aussie off-spinner has gradually emerged as a formidable spin machine in India, who keeps the batters bewildered. After being first excluded and then included on the India tour in 2013, he has honed his skills for turning pitches. So much so, that out of his 23 fifers, eleven have come in Asia, of which four were against India.
“Lyon does not use side spin but relies more on the bounce and on length. It is important to understand that extra bounce, how to utilise that, how to use the crease, especially the length. He understands that better than others,” says former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh.
And, like a machine, he changes his default settings — his speed and length — as per the pitch, as was on display during the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, observes Maninder Singh. Lyon surpassed Anil Kumble to become the leading wicket-taker in the history of the tournament.
Lyon’s natural bowling style is to bowl with an upright seam and his basics are “so strong”, according to Harbhajan, that even if the Aussie spinner boosts his pace up by 4-5 kmph, his seam position remains straight which helps him get the most spin and bounce that proved most lethal.
However, he has never led Australia to win a match in India. His team’s only victory, while he was in the squad, came when Steve O’Keefe took 12 for 70 at Pune in 2017.
With 482 Test wickets to his credit, Lyon is well on his way to soon touching the 500-mark. While he acknowledges that the 23rd five-wicket haul is one of “the biggest” highlights of his 119-Test career, he would rather focus on being the team player, learning instilled in him by his father.
(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)