Nathan Lyon on Australia’s 10-Year Quest to Reclaim the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with Victory Against India
Nathan Lyon declares, “It’s been ten years of unfinished business,” as Australia gets ready to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy again.
As he gets ready for a crucial Test series against India, Australia’s seasoned off-spinner Nathan Lyon is using all available resources, including advice from England’s Tom Hartley during his time in Lancashire. Australia has a fantastic chance to end a ten-year drought in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which they last won in the 2014–15 season, with the forthcoming series.
When Nathan Lyon plays India later this year, he intends to apply the knowledge he acquired from England’s Tom Hartley during his time with Lancashire. Australia is trying to move past ten years of “unfinished business” against them.
Australia hasn’t won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since they lost 2-0 in 2014–15, a run of home series losses at that time. India overcame a 1-0 deficit in 2020–21 after being bowled out for 36 in Adelaide to win the series with memorable victories at the MCG and Gabba in addition to an exciting draw in Sydney.
The Australia team of this age is severely lacking a series win over India; current captain Pat Cummins is one of those who has not yet held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, despite the fact that they did win the World Test Championship (WTC) in the one-off match at The Oval last year.
“It’s been ten years of unfinished business, it’s been a long time, and I know we’re extremely hungry to turn things around especially here at home,” Lyon stated. “Don’t get me wrong, India is a formidable opponent and a team full of superstars, but I’m desperate to get this title back for our team.
Feel as though we are a different team now than we were a few years ago; we are striving to be the best Australian cricket team. Although we are not there yet, we are making progress and have been playing some respectable cricket.”
Lyon praised India’s capacity to produce elite players, mentioning Yashasvi Jaiswal, the opener, among the country’s more recent recruits. However, the off-spinner has gained some intelligence during his winter stint playing county cricket.
“I haven’t come across him [Jaiswal] yet, but that will be a massive challenge for all us bowlers,” he stated. “I watched that pretty intently and thought it was pretty fantastic how he played against England. I found it intriguing because Tom Hartley and I had some really nice conversations regarding the various approaches he took with different guys.”
“Since I enjoy discussing cricket, I might learn something new from speaking with someone who has played Test cricket. This game has a wealth of information that we can always access.”
When asked if he believed the discussions regarding India would be worthwhile, Lyon responded, “If the plans we’ve spoken about come to true, then I think it will be.” Lyon is aware that this might potentially go the other way for the Ashes the following year.
Josh Hazlewood, who survived the 2014–15 series with Lyon, said that Australia’s current performance against India represented a serious gap in their record.
Many players have never triumphed over India in a Test series. That’s quite amazing to say,” he remarked. We should essentially win every series here at home, so that’s one we need to cross off the list.
We clearly bowled them out for 36 in Adelaide during the last series, and we felt, “This time, we’re back at home and we can win on these grounds.” They can occasionally outplay the best team, notwithstanding the claim that we played India B in the most recent Test match. We are now beginning to realize their incredible depth across all mediums.”
With Australia looking to defend their championship, the five Test matches against India will also play a significant role in determining the field for the WTC final at Lord’s in June 2025. This is especially important for Hazlewood, who was not there for the previous year’s final.
“It’s always in the background, we have the table up [to see] where we are sitting and what we need to tick off,” he stated. “For me, it’s a big one because I didn’t get to play the last one in England so that’s a burning one for me.”
The forthcoming T20I and ODI trip of the UK will feature Hazlewood. After that, he plans to participate in one Sheffield Shield match prior to the opening Test matchup with India. Early in the season, Lyon plans to play for New South Wales in up to three Shield matches.
