But after watching Ravichandran Ashwin use over spin to great effect in the opening Test on a receptive surface,Lyon in particularreverted to concentration on his stock ball with striking results. A haul of 18 wickets at 11.94 has had Lyon striking every 25.2 balls.
Those figures have given India a major dilemma in terms of pitch preparation for Ahmedabad,where another sharp turner would aid Australia,but a flatter surface might offer the likes of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne the chance to finally bat big.
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“The first Test we talked a lot about the side spin and to incorporate that because on the red soil it tends to benefit you a bit more,that’s what Todd went to and Nathan as well,” spin coach Dan Vettori said. “Then the realisation,we saw Ashwin bowling a little bit more over the top,and we tried to replicate what he’d done.
“That suits Nathan down to the ground,he got early results and he was able to settle in. In this Test,he was able to go back and forward a little bit more. The real skill he is obviously bringing to the table is the assessment of the wicket and the style he needs to bowl.
“He hardly ever bowls a bad ball and just puts so much pressure on batsmen because of that skill level. You think they know what’s coming. Why can’t they deal with it? It’s because he gets so much on the ball that’s actually hard to counter. We saw him at his absolute best in this Test.”
Matt Kuhnemann,who made his debut in Delhi then played a critical wicket-taking role in Indore,has a style much less round-arm than that of Ravindra Jadeja. But on these pitches,his revolutions on the ball have been very effective in creating chances.