Nathan Lyon shares his thoughts on facing India in WTC final in England

Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon feels that the upcoming World Test Championship final against India is as important for Australia as the Ashes in the red-ball season. Notably, Australia are set to take on India for the WTC final starting on June 7 at the Oval, London. After that, the Aussies will lock horns with arch-rivals England for the Ashes starting on June 16.

Australia will not be playing any warm-up matches ahead of the two big contests. Meanwhile, some of the players are coming after participating in the recently concluded IPL 2023, while some are coming from the county championship. Also, Australia haven’t won a Test series in England since 2001.

Talking about Australia’s plans ahead of the WTC final and Ashes, Nathan Lyon said that both assignments are equally important for them. He said Australia will be going ahead keepin behind the recent Test series loss against Indian in March 2023

“Yes, we are playing the Ashes but we’ve got a big game that we’re up for. This is our grand final, and then our season basically starts again. That’s probably where we’re quite happy with where we’re at with our planning. We are able to understand what we’ve got around the corner, and be OK,” Lyon was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.

“It’s exciting to be part of the final and the fanfare and stuff around it, it’s bloody special. I know every Australian fan is looking forward to the Ashes, and so they should be. But they should also be excited about this match. You can wipe off anything that happened in India,” he further added.

‘It is going to be a really good challenge’ – Lyon

Talking about the Ashes, Australia are current holders of the Urn as they won the last series in 2021-22 by 4-0. While their previous outing in England in 2019 ended with a scoreline of 2-2. Now the Pat Cummins side will looking to retain the Ashes urn and win their first Test series in England after 22 years. Before that, they will be facing the runners-up of the previous WTC cycle from 2019 to 2021, India for the second WTC final.

“Both teams are really well-rounded in their squads. It is going to be a really good challenge. India obviously have some class batters but they have some class fast bowlers as well. It’s going to be a good challenge. Both squads going at it and competing for one game, it’s going to be a really good challenge. It’s a fresh start. I’m looking forward to it,” Lyon concluded.