Nathan Lyon trying to learn from Ravichandran Ashwin's bowling

What’s the story

Australia’s Test spinner Nathan Lyon has chalked out his strategy to prepare for Test matches in India. Lyon will be spending time watching the world number 1 bowler Ravichandran Ashwin’s videos. The Australian hopes that following the Ashwin blueprint will make him more effective in the subcontinent.

“I’m going to have to look at my game and really focus on the way Ashwin plans his day out. I’m doing a lot of footage work now in the lead up to India. I’m trying to learn, I’m still learning and hopefully, I can take my past experiences over to India and compete,” said the Australian spinner to cricket.com.au’s The Unplayable Podcast.

The 29-year-old is in awe of how the Indian ace spinner sets batsmen up over the course of the match. The subtle variations in pace and trajectories of the ball by Ashwin is something that the Australian hopes to learn and try to bowl.

In case you didn’t know...

Ashwin averages more than six wickets per Test in India and has mesmerised the world with his spin bowling, his latest victims the English batsmen, who ended on the wrong end of a 4-0 drubbing. Ashwin displayed six variations – the normal off spinner stock delivery, slider, carrom ball, top-spin, side-spin, and leg-spin – to leave the English batsmen clueless.

Adam Zampa, the other Australian spinner who could potentially be on the flight to India had also earlier revealed that Ashwin would not give much away at the nets, even when he asked the Indian premier bowler for some tips. Australia are on a nine-match losing streak in the subcontinent.

The heart of the matter

India have steamrolled past South Africa, New Zealand, and England at home, and have their eyes set on Australia next. One of the foundations of India’s dominant run in Tests has been Ashwin’s guile and ability to take wickets even on pitches not conducive for spinners.

Australia will have to do something out of the box if they hope to pose a challenge for India in the Test matches. Lyon’s newly-revealed tactic of observing Ashwin’s videos is surely one such step.

What next?

The Australian spinners will have a fortnight-long camp in Dubai before the tour to India to help them acclimatise with the conditions in the subcontinent. Stephen O’Keefe will partner Lyon in the spin bowling department.

The composition of the Australian playing XI is still unknown and it remains to be seen whether Australia decide to go in with three frontline spinners or only two. The England team chopped and changed their bowling attack till the last Test match of the series without getting any success in turning around the result of the match.

Sportskeeda’s take

Ashwin has mastered the variations in his deliveries by working hard over years. A few days spent on watching his videos may not help Lyon and give him the desired results.

The Australian off-spinner had a heartening tour of Sri Lanka in which he collected 16 wickets from 3 Tests. Lyon extracts extra bounce when bowling due to his high arm action and the 29-year-old Australian will be better off focusing on his strengths and try to do what he can do best.