Australian spinner Nathan Lyon wants the selectors to go with a two-spin attack against India in the upcoming four-Test series, which gets underway with the opening Test here on February 22.
“It will be big challenge for all of us in different conditions. We have seen India playing four spinners in the last Test against England. So hopefully we will have the opportunity to play two spinners for Australia,” Lyon said.
Lyon said he followed the English spinners during their exploits during the India-England Test series late last year and hoped to pick some tricks to tame the Indian batsmen.
“I certainly watched (Monty) Panesar and (Graeme) Swann. They bowled quite well. I did watch Swann very very closely and I hope to take in a few things and put the same method in practice against India,” Lyon said.
Australia have named four spinners in their 17-member squad, including 19-year-old Ashton Agar in a development capacity and Lyon said it would be a good challenge for them to get a berth in the Test squad.
“It is great to have four spinner with Steve Smith, Xavier Doherty, Glenn Maxwell, and myself. So it is a good challenge for all of us for pushing each other along for a spot in first Test side,” he said.
“It exciting to see Agar coming in with the Australian side. He is a talented bowler.”
Lyon and seven others have reached India last night to get acclimatised to the playing conditions and the 25-year-old spinner said it would be a good challenge.
“It was a long trip last night. All the boys are well rested. It would be a pretty lazy restful day today. The boys will get training tomorrow and get ready for test,” Lyon said.
“I have been here for T20 stuff, so playing longer format will be different, it will be a good challenge. It will be a great experience,” he added.
