NEW DELHI: Since the time India started playing Tests (1932), only one spinner had managed to reach the 100-wicket milestone against them. On Saturday, another tweaker entered the club to give the Sri Lankan legend Muttiah Muralitharan company.
Nathan Lyon. He ran through the home side's batting line-up, dismissing five of their top seven including four during the first session of play to complete his 22nd career five-wicket haul and second in as many Tests at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
The achievement could well be added as yet another chapter to his glorious career, which witnessed him becoming Australia's primary spin weapon from being a curator at the Adelaide Oval. Muralitharan had claimed 105 Indian wickets in 22 matches including seven five-fers and two 10-wicket hauls. The new entrant to the elite club, Lyon, meanwhile, achieved the feat in 24 matches by claiming eight five-fers and one 10-wicket haul.
Lyon was introduced into the attack after India had moved along to 43 without the loss of a wicket after 15 overs. Replacing debutant Matthew Kuhnemann, Lyon's first delivery from around the wicket turned sharply towards Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who somehow managed to play it.
Even as Rohit managed to survive, his opening partner KL Rahul couldn't as he was trapped leg before in Lyon's next over to give visitors first success. The over almost produced the wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara but the visitors decided not to review an LBW decision of the on-field umpire as they had already wasted two reviews inside 30 minutes of the play in the morning.
In the end, it didn't matter much as the 35-year-old bowler came up with two special deliveries in his third over of the day to get rid of the dangerous-looking Rohit and Pujara. The ball to Rohit turned in just from outside the off-stump while remaining low before castling the batter. Two balls later, it was Pujara, who once again was hit on the pad but this time Pat Cummins didn't hesitate to review and successfully got the not out call overturned as the ball had kissed the pad first. The dismissal also meant the Saurashtra batter departed for nought in the first innings of his 100th Test.
With three wickets in 10 balls, Lyon pushed the Indian batters onto the back foot. However, it was Peter Handscomb who made his fourth wicket possible by holding on to a difficult catch of Shreyas Iyer at short leg before juggling the ball a few times. Courtesy of the spell, India were reduced to 88/4 after 35 overs at lunch with Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja unbeaten on 14 and 15 runs respectively.
As the play resumed, Kohli and Jadeja played with caution to take their team beyond the 100-run mark. However, when the pair looked set, the right-arm off-break bowler Todd Murphy claimed Jadeja's wicket. Kohli then became debutant Matthew Kuhnemann's first victim although the LBW dismissal raised a few eyebrows with even the Indian batter not looking happy once his review was turned down.
Soon after wicketkeeper-batter Srikar Bharat tried to sweep Lyon but the ball touched his gloves before ballooning towards Steven Smith who was stationed at the first slip. The former Australian skipper just had to run a few steps to ensure his teammate bagged his eighth five-fer against India.
Lyon, who could manage only a wicket from 49 overs in the previous Test, admitted the Delhi pitch offered him more bounce than the one rolled out in Nagpur. "There is (a) lot more bounce in Delhi compared to Nagpur, which I obviously like to exploit."
All five of his scalps were right-handers with two being trapped in front of the wicket. He exclusively bowled around the wicket to increase his chances of picking up wickets. "Bowling around the wicket in this game, I'm still trying to target the off stump. That's my goal. If you understand cricket, you will understand what I am trying to do and trying to get them to defend because we know how good the Indian batters are. If I can make them defend, hopefully, I'll create a few chances here and there."