Adelaide [Australia], December 4 : Ahead of the pink-ball, day-night Adelaide Test against India, Australia's ace spinner Nathan Lyon expects the Adelaide Oval wicket to spin and called it the "best cricket wicket in the world".
Lyon will be aiming to conquer the Adelaide pitch as Australia seeks their best chance of fighting back against India in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series with the pink-ball, day-night Test taking place. Having a record of 11 wins and a loss in pink-ball Tests, Aussies would be no doubt fired up to turn the tables after a 295-run loss at Perth.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Lyon said that Adelaide is his favourite venue and he expects it to favour spinners, pacers and batters alike.
"I love Adelaide. Adelaide's my favourite venue. So I love playing cricket here. I think the whole atmosphere here with the crowds, the whole town, the whole city and then with the pitch here and the conditions here, I really enjoy bowling here for the spin and bounce. So red ball, pink ball, white ball. I just love playing cricket here," he said.
"Red ball, white ball, pink ball, it is exactly the same. Not overly challenging. I think it is a great venue to play spin. I think what Damien (Hough, head curator) does here is he produces a great wicket that has got enough in it and it is challenging for both bat and ball."
"If you are good enough with the bat, you will score runs. If you are good enough with the ball, you will hopefully create a few chances along your way. So I think this is probably the best cricket wicket in the world, if I am being honest with you. So I am expecting it to be pretty helpful for spin and bowling as well," he added.
Speaking about pacer Josh Hazlewood, ruled out of the Test due to a side strain, Lyon said that he has been doing his rehab and called him an "ultimate team man".
"Yeah, he is pretty disappointed. The other day when he told me, about four or five days ago now, that he had a little side issue. But the quality of person that Josh is, he is getting around everyone, making sure that everyone is right here firstly, but he is also doing his rehab and training ball. You have seen him do his training tonight and I think he did about a 90-minute rehab session yesterday," he added.
Speaking about being hit by young up and coming all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy for some audacious shots, Lyon said that it does not surprise him a bit since it is international cricket.
" You are playing against the best players in the world, so no, I was not surprised. But yet again, I do not mind getting hit for boundaries. It provides opportunities for me to hopefully take a few chances along the way. So, there we go," he concluded.
The Adelaide Test, starting on December 6, sees India entering with both a mental and physical edge, following a dominant performance in the first Test led by Jasprit Bumrah's bowling and captaincy.
However, the visitors will also aim to exorcise the memories of the infamous 2020 Adelaide pink-ball Test, where they were dismissed for their lowest Test score of 36 runs. On that occasion, Pat Cummins (4/21) and Josh Hazlewood (5/8) dismantled the Indian batting line-up, giving Australia a straightforward target of 90 runs to chase.
India are currently 1-0 up in the BGT series following their record-shattering 295-run victory in Perth. The second Test will be played in a day-night format in Adelaide, beginning from Friday.
Australia squad (for second Test): Pat Cummins (C), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (WK), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
India squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal.