Warne pleased with Lyon's performance

Adelaide, Dec 11 (IANS) Spin legend Shane Warne praised Australian spinner Nathan Lyon for being brave and flighting the ball to induce mistakes by the Indian batsmen on the third day of the first Test match at the Adelaide Oval here Thursday.

Lyon picked up two of the five wickets to fall on day three, finishing with 2-103 as India closed on 5-369 in reply to Australia's 7-517 declared. He bowled a teasing line and tested the batsmen, flighting the ball like a classical spinner.

"When Nathan Lyon bowls his best, he flights the ball, he's got shape, he gets the ball to dip and spin," Warne was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Earlier, the off-spinner received flak for his flat performances in favourable bowling conditions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) against Pakistan, managing just three wickets in two Tests.

"In the UAE, he was bowling fast and into the pitch. I don't know why he was doing that and I don't know who told him to do that, but it didn't work and it didn't look good and the results were there too," he said.

Lyon was taken for runs by opener Murali Vijay in the first session Thursday, conceding 34 runs from his first five overs, but returned after lunch and bowled with flight and bounce to dismiss the well set Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane.

Warne also said Lyon should continue adopting an aggressive approach in his bowling.

"I think the way John Davison (spin consultant) and Nathan Lyon have worked together, what I'm seeing here in Adelaide, and what I saw when I worked with Nathan Lyon as well, I think he is going to be very, very successful when he bowls like that," Warne said. 

Warne worked closely with Lyon earlier this year when Cricket Australia hired the 45-year-old as a spin bowling consultant for the tour of South Africa and their World T20 campaign in Bangladesh.