Nathan Lyon has stated that Ajinkya Rahane doesn’t buy into any of the sledgings from the Australians and revealed that he’s pretty calm and unperturbed at the crease. Lyon also had praises for both Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, admitting that they have plans to counter them in Sydney.
Despite taking a 1-0 lead in Adelaide, Australia’s batting was never confident enough to put on a show, which tilted the favour right in the middle. In Virat Kohli’s absence, an able leader in Ajinkya Rahane took over the mantle and delivered a telling blow to Australia’s hopes of regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. At the iconic MCG, Rahane scored a patient yet scintillating century to dash Australia’s hopes of making a merry out of the Boxing Day Test.
In particular, Rahane was mightily impressive countering the Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon’s threat. However, ahead of the Sydney Test, the off-spinner credited the right-hander for not buying into any of the home side’s sledges. He also revealed that Rahane poses a pretty calm attitude during his time in the middle yet stated that the Australians have their plans ready for the right-hander.
“He (Rahane) doesn’t buy into any sledging or any conservation out there in the middle, he is pretty calm and collective batter (of the) opposition, so it is few different things that he offers,” said Lyon in the pre-match press conference, reported TOI.
“But he is obviously the leader of India at the moment as Virat (Kohli) is not here, so he is standing up at the moment and I know we will have our plans ready to hopefully combat him come to the SCG Test,” he said.
The off-spinner also spoke about the challenge of bowling against Rohit Sharma, who would be in line to play the third Test after spending his 14-day quarantine period in the country.
“Obviously, Rohit Sharma is one of the best players in the world going around, so it is going to be a big challenge for us bowlers, but we are going to show our way from it, we love challenging ourself,” Lyon added.
Meanwhile, Indian off-spinner R Ashwin has caused havoc in the home dressing room, with ten wickets thus far in the Test series. While he has consistently troubled Smith, dismissing him twice in first two Tests, Lyon affirmed that the batsmen have a plan to counter the off-spinner in Sydney.
“Yeah, Ashwin is bowling very well. He is a world-class spinner and I have said that throughout my whole career. He has bowled quite a straight line to our batters, which they haven’t had come up with a plan as yet. I think they will come up with one of them and counter Ashwin’s plan in Sydney,” he added of Ashwin.
Lyon was also unfazed over the noise surrounding the bio-bubble but insisted that it is a very small sacrifice for them to go out and play cricket.
“I know there are a few people from both squads who have been in a bubble for close to six months now, but in my eyes, it’s a very small sacrifice for us to get out there and play the game that we love and put a lot of smiles on a lot of people’s faces around the world,” Lyon concluded.
