Nathan Lyon denies Rohit Sharma a fifty in his 100th Test as Australia battle India in Brisbane

Nathan Lyon had a great moment when he came out onto the field on the second day of the Brisbane Test against India on Saturday. The offspinner became the 13^th Australian player to play 100 Tests for his country and he scored a quick cameo to help Australia cross 350. With the ball, this has been Nathan Lyon’s leanest series so far has taken only six wickets so far. However, the offspinner remarked the GOAT (Greatest of All-Time) for his exploits, struck a massive blow on day 2 to dent India and hand the initiative finally to Australia.

Rohit Sharma was hitting the ball cleanly and was looking in prime form against all the pacers. He dealt with the pace of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood brilliantly while he decided to take on the offspinner. In Nathan Lyon’s third over, Rohit Sharma blasted a four to deep midwicket for a boundary to near his fifty. However, Nathan Lyon had his revenge. The bowler bowled a flighted delivery and Rohit Sharma had a brain freeze as he mistimed the lofted shot to long-on and Mitchell Starc took the catch. This was the sixth time that Nathan Lyon had dismissed Rohit Sharma in Tests and it was the most that the Indian vice-captain has fallen to one bowler in Tests.

Greatness for Nathan Lyon

Nathan Lyon has been the best offspinner for Australia in the last decade. His exploits against India make him one of the best and he is the leading wicket-taker among bowlers in the current generation of Australian bowlers against India. Nathan Lyon also has a five-wicket haul against every nation that he has played against with the exception of teams like Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland.

Nathan Lyon needs only three more wickets to become the second offspinner after Harbhajan Singh to take 400 Test wickets. Currently, Harbhajan Singh leads the list with 413. However, Nathan Lyon is a long way away from beating Muttiah Muralitharan’s record of 800 Test wickets. Recently, Muttiah Muralitharan said that Ravichandran Ashwin has a better chance of breaking a record than Nathan Lyon.

In the ongoing series, Ashwin has outbowled Nathan Lyon as the Australian offspinner has been restricted to just seven wickets at an average of 40.