Australia vs India: Five intriguing face-offs to look out for in the Test series

Nathan Lyon vs Ravichandran Ashwin

Let’s face it, this is one of the most underrated rivalries. Nathan Lyon and Ravichandran Ashwin will battle it out again, perhaps for one final time in a bid to become the best off-spinner in the world. Their performance would settle the dust once and for all.

Australian tracks are pacer-friendly and the quicks are bound to get wickets. However, day four and day five are likely to get the spinners into the game and they, more or less, will dominate the proceedings. With both of these high-quality spinners on show, we are in for an intense spin duel.

In 64 Tests that Ashwin has played, he has picked up 336 wickets and Nathan Lyon, on the other hand, has 318 scalps to his name in the 80 Tests that he played. While the stats suggest that Ashwin is definitely better than Lyon, they do not tell the full story. When it comes to performance away from home, Lyon pips Ashwin in this department.

Ashwin’s struggles away from home are well known but one could cite flat and pacer friendly tracks as the reason for his indifferent show. However, Ashwin was highly inconsistent in the away series against England apart from the first Test. Performance at home is more often than not, underrated but that counts too.

Out of 64 Tests, Ashwin has played 25 Tests away from home and has picked up 102 scalps at an average of 31.78. However, the numbers drastically change when Ashwin is bowling at home. In 39 Test at home, Ashwin has 234 wickets to his name at an average of 22.69.

When it comes to Nathan Lyon, he has got more wickets away than home. In 43 matches abroad, Lyon has got 179 wickets and at a slightly better average of 31.08. At home, Lyon has 139 wickets at an average of 33.75. Nathan holds an impressive record against India. 58 wickets, which is the most for any bowler and Nathan also has 3 seven-wicket hauls to his name (most by any bowler against India). His strike rate of 50.9 is the second best among the bowlers who have picked up 25 plus wickets against India.

The main difference between these two players is the ability to bat. Ashwin is a better batsman than Lyon and he likes to call himself an “all-rounder” and rightly so. In 64 Tests,  Ashwin has amassed 2331 runs at an average of 29.51. Lyon, on the other hand, has got on 839 runs in 80 Tests at a paltry average of 11.65.

With Ashwin expected to play a big role with the bat as well, this rivalry is bound to get interesting and we should cherish the fact that we are getting to see two of the greatest off-spinners of the modern era having a go at each other, perhaps for one last time.