SL vs AUS: It’s always been about the team: Nathan Lyon ahead of approaching astonishing figures in Test
India Today
Nathan Lyon’s nine wickets in the first Test match vs Sri Lanka earned Australia crucial points in the subcontinental conditions. He needs seven more wickets to go past Ravichandran Ashwin as the second best off spinner of all time.
Australia’s best off spinner of all time, Nathan Lyon, has said that the tag of ‘Greatest of All Time’ is still far off for him. The veteran 34-year-old, who dismantled Sri Lanka by taking nine wickets in the first Test match would be raring to go once again in tricky conditions at the Galle International Stadium. The International Cricket Council rated the Galle pitch as average after Sri Lanka lost all 10 wickets against Australia spinners in the second innings in just 22.5 overs.
With the pitch expected to play similar in the second match, Lyon would be raring to go at the Dimuth Karunaratne side, who failed to put anything substantial in the two innings of the game.
Lyon currently stands 10th in the all time wicket-takers list in Test cricket and is just seven wickets away from overtaking India’s Ravichandran Ashwin to become the second highest wicket-taker among spinners in Test cricket.
"I'm not really sure where I stand on the (all-time wicket-taking) list ... (but) the top end of the wicket takers, there's some amazing names there," Lyon said during the first Test win.
"For me it's always been about the team ... it's something I'm proud of but will look at in more depth at the end of my career,” he added.
"But that's a long way off," he said about the GOAT debates.
Former New Zealand skipper Daniel Vettori, who currently works as the assistant coach for Australia said that there was no shadow of doubt that Lyon would have become one of the best ever, and plenty of signs were there when he started in international cricket.
