Nathan Lyon

Nathan Lyon will go down in Australian cricketing history as the greatest off-spinner to have donned the Australian whites. An incredible turn of events saw Lyon graduating from a pitch curator to a Test cricketer in a short span of time. In 2010, Lyon was working as ground staff in the Adelaide Oval and his bowling talent was spotted out of the blue by the then Redbacks coach Darren Berry. In a span of a year, Lyon bagged his Test debut against Sri Lanka in August 2011. 

In a generation where the trait of conventional off-spinners has gone for a toss, Lyon remains one of those bowlers from the old school. He loves flighting the ball and is a wicket-taking bowler for Australia in the longest format. He is one of those very few bowlers to pick a wicket on his very first delivery of Test cricket when he bagged the wicket of Kumar Sangakkara. He went on to bag a fifer and emerged as one of the prime spinners for Australia post the Shane Warne era.

Despite his exceptional record in the Test format, Lyon’s road in international cricket has been far from easy. Despite being Australia’s premier spinner, he was dropped from the Test team twice in 2013. He also had to sit out for two Tests in the Ashes next year in favor of Ashton Agar but made his return in the final two Tests. After missing out in two Tests, Lyon was rightfully back in the XI and bowled Australia to a victory in the 4th Test. He also played a pivotal role in Australia’s home series victory against India in 2014-15. He also bagged the Man of the Tournament Award for the first time in his career. 

He also became the 6th Australian bowler to bag 300 Test wickets and is just 4 short of the 400m marks. Ever since making his debut, Lyon has been a pretty consistent performer for Australia. Despite being their premier spinner in the longest format, Lyon has been predominantly used as a Test specialist. He has played a handful of limited opportunities but most of it came pretty recently. He made a return to the ODI fold in 2018-19 and was included in the World Cup squad. 

His limited repertoire with the ball hasn’t really attracted bids from franchises across the globe. However, his exploits in the longest format have been something to take notice off and he has done his job in an unfazed manner. With Australia slated to host India for a four-match Test series in 2020-21 December-January, Lyon will yet again spearhead the spin attack and should be a match-winning weapon for the hosts.