‘Watched a lot of footage of him on laptop, driving my wife mad’ – Nathan Lyon reveals his obsession over Indian spinner

Australia’s right-arm off-spinner, Nathan Lyon revealed that he did a deep study about India’s star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin before landing in India for the four-match Test series. He also said that he got to learn a lot of things from Ashwin and try to become better while watching his opposition.

Ashwin played a major role in India’s winning in Nagpur Test along with Ravindra Jadeja. The 36-year-old off-spinner picked up 3 wickets in the first innings conceding 42 runs, while Jadeja scalped 5 wickets for 47 runs. Australia were bowled out for 177 runs in the first innings.

“I’m not going to pin myself against Ash. I think the way Ashwin has gone about it has been remarkable and his record speaks for himself. To be honest, I am a totally different bowler to Ash. Have I have sat down and watched a lot of footage of Ashwin before coming over here? Yes, a 100 percent.”

“I’ve spent a lot of time sitting at home in front of the laptop, driving my wife mad. It’s all about learning. The best thing about this game is that we are constantly learning, trying to grow and get better by watching your opposition and that’s one of the biggest learning curves,” said Lyon while talking to Star Sports.

“There’s a lot of talk. Lots he has taught me about. Sitting down and speaking to him, there’s been a lot that he’s taught me and that’s just not for here but even in Australia. There’s a couple of skillsets that Ash has which I would like to develop. That’s why I feel like I can still get better. So that’s what’s driving me,” he further added.

Ashwin completes the milestone of 450+ wickets in Tests

With three wickets in the first innings, Ashwin completed the milestone of 450+ wickets in Test cricket in the first Test. He is only the second Indian bowler after Anil Kumble to reach 450 wickets in the longest format. He went on to pick up 5 wickets in the second innings as India bowled Australia out for just 91 runs, thereby winning the Test match by an inning and 132 runs.

Ashwin remains the second-highest wicket-taker for India in Tests.