MELBOURNE: Australia spinner Nathan Lyon said that it would not be difficult for India to bounce back from the heavy defeat they suffered in the first Test and is expecting the visitors to take the field for the second game without any scares of the previous loss.
India stumbled to an eight-wicket loss in the first Test of the series. On the third day of the first Test, India was bundled out for 36 in the second innings and Australia was given a mediocre target of 90 runs to go 1-0 ahead. Australia chased down the total comfortably inside 21 overs with eight wickets in hand.
“I do not think it will be that difficult. You look at the quality of players in the Indian side, they have got some absolutely world-class players throughout the whole squad. That was one of their days when nothing went right for them and everything went right for us… They will come without any scares from the other day. We cannot go out there expecting we are going to bowl them out in 50 again and so we have to prepare ourselves, just like India are,” Lyon said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday.
Australian pacers were on their best during the pink-ball Test. Mitchell Starc picked four wickets while Pat Cummins scalped three wickets in the first innings. In the second innings, Josh Hazlewood took five wickets and Cummins shone again, picking up four wickets.
Talking about the team’s lethal bowling attack, Lyon said: “I have said it many times before, in my eyes, this is the best bowling attack in the world. To be able to take the field with them is pretty amazing. To call them my best mates and have them in my corner every day is pretty special. In my eyes, it is the best bowling side in the world.”
Australia will have a major advantage going into the remaining Tests as India will be without Virat Kohli for the remaining games as he heads back home after being granted paternity leave by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
India and Australia will take on each other in the Boxing Day Test, beginning December 26. (ANI)
