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'Shreyas Iyer literally smacked him in a side game’: Karthik’s warning for key Australia bowler in Hazlewood’s absence
While a lot will depend on how Australia's batters fair in the spinning conditions, there will also be pressure on their spinners perform.
Australia are set to tour India for a much anticipated four-match Test series starting on February 9. Success has been hard to come by for Australia in India, with their last series win in 2004 itself being their first in over three decades at the time. While a lot will depend on how their batters fair against the spinning conditions, there will also be pressure on their spinners, particularly spearhead Nathan Lyon, to deliver.
Veteran India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik has stated that Lyon's off-spin will be a danger for the Indian batters. However, if they manage to put the 35-year-old under pressure, that could well decide the course of a match. “Our Achilles heel has not been spin bowling but off-spin bowling interestingly,” said Karthik on Cricbuzz.
“They have a world class off-spinner in Lyon. You also must understand that he will be under a lot of pressure knowing that he will be the key bowler for Australia to steer the ship in which direction it needs to go. One bad session from his part could mean the Test match is moving in a direction against Australia and that’s a lot of pressure to handle.”
Karthik recalled that Lyon had been belted for runs by Shreyas Iyer in a tour game before Australia's 2016/17 Test series in India. Iyer had smashed an unbeaten 202 in 210 balls in the only Indian innings and Lyon had conceded a whopping 162 runs in 28.5 overs. His economy of 5.61 was the worst among all of Australia's bowlers.
“Shreyas Iyer literally smacked him in a side game in CCI. When the pressure is there, Lyon will need to stand up. A lot of his temperament and his testament will come to the fore. Even though India hasn’t been playing off-spin well, these matches are going to be in India and we have to trust our ability to play spin which has been part of our heritage and lineage over a period of time,” said Karthik. He also pointed out that unlike Ravichandran Ashwin, who has a seasoned veteran in Ravindra Jadeja and the dangerous Axar Patel to back him up, Australia don't have too much experience apart from Lyon among spinners.
“We have to understand Ashton Agar hasn’t played too much Test cricket neither has Mitchell Swepson nor Todd Murphy, so a lot has to depend on Lyon to go well. On the other hand, Ashwin has Jadeja and Axar to back him up,” said Karthik.
