Melbourne [Australia], July 29 : Australia's seasoned frontline off-spinner Nathan Lyon weighed in on the dramatic scenes that unfolded in the fourth Test between India and England in Manchester last week.
In the final moments of Day 5, emotions boiled over after India fought with every ounce of strength to keep the series alive courtesy of Ravindra Jadeja's (107*) and Washington Sundar's (101*) gritty 203-run unbeaten partnership, which kept the 1-2 scoreline intact.
With the draw looming large, England captain Ben Stokes went to the Indian pair to offer his hand to call the end of the contest. With Jadeja on 89 and Sundar on 80, the southpaws refused to accept it. Shortly after the drama, England bowled, tossed up, and delivered through Harry Brook, and Jadeja dispatched the ball for a maximum to bring up his fifth Test century.
A statement from Stokes was caught on the stump mic as he said, "Jaddu, do you want to get a Test 100 against Brook & Duckett?" Jadeja responded to the English skipper's comment and said, "What do you want me to do, just walk off?" Zak Crawley, who stood close to the crease, chipped in, saying: "You can, just shake your hand."
Lyon had a simple message for England and said, as quoted from The Sydney Morning Herald, "Get them out. Don't let them get a hundred."
The ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy has been nothing short of a batter's haven. Some of the Australian players have been closely monitoring the events, with the Ashes four months away from commencement.
Lyon is one of those and dissected the way the Tests have been played on English soil. The 37-year-old batted for more competitive pitches to be used in the Ashes with a thinly veiled jibe at the one used for the fourth Test in Manchester last week.
"So it's going to be challenging for their batters and challenging for our batters. That's the way cricket should be, you want to see competition between bat and ball. I think that's crucial, and all the fans, that's what they want to see, they don't really want to watch what happened over in Manchester last week," Lyon said.
The fourth Test in Manchester ended in a draw, courtesy of a batting masterclass from Ravindra Jadeja (108*) and Washington Sundar (101*). Lyon's assessment wasn't limited to the strips but also the evolution of 'Bazball'.
The term 'Bazball' has been used extensively since Brendon McCullum took over as the head coach in 2022 to define England's brand of cricket. Lyon, who has had the firsthand experience of playing against it, feels that Bazball has transformed from being "reckless" to identifying the match-winning blueprints.
"I think Bazball has changed a little bit, they're now honestly talking about ways of how to win games and not being too reckless. But the conditions over here, it's always been a great competition between bat and ball, and that's the way Australia's produced wickets like that," he said.
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