'A Massive Challenge for Us': Nathan Lyon Seeks England Spinner's Help to Tackle India Opener in BGT

The Aussies are eager to lay their hands on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. They haven’t won a Test series against India since 2015 and will look to avenge the trophy when Rohit Sharma & Co travel to Australia later this year. All eyes will be on Yashavi Jaiswal who had a terrific run against England at home a few months ago. He scored an astounding 712 runs in the five-match series but the pace and bounce on offer on Australian tracks will pose a different challenge for the Mumbaikar.

Meanwhile, Nathan Lyon has already started his homework on rising batting sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal with England spinner Tom Hartley’s inputs on the southpaw safely stored in his memory bank. The ace off-spinner hasn’t faced Jaiswal before but was left impressed with the way he handled Hartley in home conditions.

“I haven’t come across him [Jaiswal] yet, but that will be a massive challenge for all us bowlers,” Lyon was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“The way he (Jaiswal) played against England, I watched that quite closely and thought that was quite amazing. I had some really good chats with Tom Hartley (England left-arm spinner) about different ways he went about it to different guys which I found quite interesting,” he added.

Lyon had a stint in English county with Lancashire and had an opportunity to share notes with Hartley, who had 20 wickets in four Tests against India and he is someone who has first-hand knowledge of Jaiswal’s exploits.

“I love talking about cricket, so if I can talk to someone who has played Test cricket, I might be able to pick up something I’m not aware of. There’s so much knowledge floating around this game that we can always tap into.”

Since winning the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar 2-0, Australia have lost the next four series against India. Lyon feels that this Australian team under Pat Cummins is slightly different compared to Tim Paine’s team which lost back-to-back series against India at home.

“Feel like we are a different team to a couple of years ago. We are on a journey of becoming a great Australian cricket team. We’re definitely not there but we are along that journey and have been playing some decent cricket.”