Nathan Lyon is one of the best in the business. There is absolutely no doubt about that. In the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Lyon has been at the forefront of Australia's bowling attack. He is the man the skipper turns to when the going gets tough, and he is more often than not expected to do the job. The fact that he plays a similar role, just to a lesser degree, even in Australia, speaks volumes of how good he is.
In the recently concluded 3rd Test against India, Lyon took 11 wickets, eight of which came in the 2nd innings. With these numbers, Lyon's scalps swelled to 137 in Asia, making him the most successful visiting bowler in the continent. Out of these, 53 have come in India.
Also, his figures of 8/64 in the second innings were the joint third-best figures in an innings for a visiting bowler in India. This was his second-best performance, with the best one coming in 2017 against India, where he took 8 wickets for 50 runs.
As far as the 3rd Test was concerned, powered by Travis Head's counterattacking knock on the morning of Day 3, Australia ran away with the chase and won the 3rd Test in Indore by 9 wickets. Failure of India's batting order, coupled with lacklustre bowling display in the 2nd innings barring the starting 15-20 minutes, led to the defeat.
India won the toss and opted to bat. The Aussie bowling attack, led by Matt Kuhnemann, who took 5 wickets, blasted away the Indian batting line-up for just 109 in the 1st innings, with Virat Kohli (22) being the highest scorer. It was always going to be an uphill battle from there on.
Batting 2nd, Khawaja scored a brilliant 60 off 147 deliveries, and at one point it looked like they might even bat India out of the game. But once India got past Handscomb and Green, all hell broke loose and the Aussies lost the remaining six wickets for just 11 runs, within a span of 24 balls.
Coming in to bat for the 2nd time, things for India, did not pan out much differently barring Pujara, who scored a great 59 off 142 deliveries, not one Indian batter looked at ease. The team was bowled out at 163, handing Australia a target of 76 to chase on Day 3.
India started Day 3 on a dreamy note, sending Khawaja back on just the 2nd ball of the first over. Unfortunately, that was the only high for them, as Travis Head came into his own and counterattacked his way to a victory worth remembering for the Kangaroos.
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