Veteran Australia spinner Nathan Lyon has his focus fixed on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India at home in November. The veteran also reckoned that they are ‘hungry to turn things around’ against the opposition, especially at home. However, Australia have been in sublime form recently as well. Notably, India beat Australia in early 2019, when Australia played without Steve Smith and David Warner due to their ball-tampering bans. In 2020-21, India bounced back from the 36 all out to secure the four-match series 2-1 in great fashion in Australia’s fortress – the Gabba. Australia last held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2014-15.
“It’s been 10 years of unfinished business, it’s been a long time, and I know we’re extremely hungry to turn things around especially here at home,” Lyon said. “Don’t get me wrong, India is an absolute superstar side and extremely challenging but I’m extremely hungry to turn things around and make sure we get that trophy back.”
Nathan Lyon however, added that Australia are better prepared this time around. When the series begins, in Perth on November 22, Australia will play against Yashasvi Jaiswal. The opener who enjoyed a breakthrough series at home against England, scoring 712 runs in nine innings.
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“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. I haven’t come across him [Jaiswal] yet, but that will be a massive challenge for all us bowlers,” Lyon said. “The way he played against England, I watched that quite closely and thought that was quite amazing. I had some really good chats with [England spinner] Tom Hartley about different ways he went about it to different guys which I found quite interesting.”
“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,” Lyon further added.
Meanwhile, pace bowler Josh Hazlewood, who also faced both the home series defeats, shared the similar Lyon’s thoughts.
“There are quite a few players who have never beaten India in a Test series. It’s quite astounding to say that. That’s one we need to tick off, definitely, in particular at home – we should pretty much win every series here at home. That last series we obviously bowled them out for 36 in Adelaide and we thought here we go, [we are] back at home [and] confident on these grounds. People say we played India B in that last Test, but they can sometimes be stronger than the best team. They’ve got unbelievable depth in all formats and we are starting to see that now,” Hazlewood opined.
“It’s always in the background, we have the table up [to see] where we are sitting and what we need to tick off. For me, it’s a big one because I didn’t get to play the last one in England so that’s a burning one for me,” Hazlewood concluded.
