Nathan Lyon wants Australia to prepare well and enjoy against India in the upcoming ODI series

Australia haven’t had the best of times in limited-overs cricket in the last couple of years. Their last ODI series win came back in January 2017 against Pakistan at home. They’ve lost six series’ in a row now. In fact, since the Champions Trophy in 2017, they have tasted victory only four times in the 50-overs format.

With the World Cup just a few months away, the focus has entirely shifted to white-ball cricket. However, Australia have 10 games to fine tune and identify who are the players for the mega event. They are scheduled to play a couple of five-match fixtures away from home. The first of those starts in about a couple of weeks as they travel to India for two T20Is and five ODIs.

Australia have chopped and changed quite a bit. However, there are a few players who they’ve stuck to and Nathan Lyon is one of them. The experienced off-spinner has been in and out of the ODI side but for the time being, he has got a slightly longer rope despite not being at his best in the three-match ODI series at home against India. He thinks that if Australia can enjoy themselves and prepare well, they can compete well against one of the best sides in the world.

“We get a great opportunity to play a lot of white-ball cricket before the World Cup so I think if we can go out and enjoy ourselves, make sure our preparation is right, then we can compete against the best in their conditions as well,” Lyon was quoted saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Lyon hopeful of World Cup selection

Nathan Lyon hasn’t played a lot of white-ball cricket for Australia in his career. He has donned the Australia colours in just 19 limited-overs games (17 ODIs and 2 T20Is). Hence, he will now play quite a bit of white-ball cricket in the leadup to the World Cup. His white-ball season starts with a couple of Big Bash games as he turns out to play for Sydney Sixers.

“Hopefully my World Cup campaign, my selection, will start on Sunday. I just need to keep putting in good performances with the ball and making sure I can play my role, whichever side I’m playing in whether that’s the Sixers or Australia,” the 31-year-old off-spinner mentioned.

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