'It was a massive moment' – Lyon on Smith's catch to dismiss Pujara

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'It was a massive moment' - Lyon on Smith's catch to dismiss Pujara


There is no one who would have liked Nathan Lyon more than Steven Smith after Australia’s substitute captain made a spectacular catch to eliminate Cheteshwar Pujara and leave the visitors in a position where they can be confident of victory in Indore .
As Australia, and mainly Lyon, made their way through India on the second afternoon, Pujara stood in their way, threatening to engineer a target that would give India’s spinners a realistic chance. 76 is unlikely to be done easily on day three, but it’s very little that even R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja can work with.
With Pujara defying every tactic Australia threw at him, including a leg-side heavy 7-2 pitch that restricted his scoring and appeared to frustrate Rohit Sharma in the dressing room, he was eventually persuaded to launch an off-the-stump delivery of Leg.

Smith displayed incredible reflexes to dive low to his right and pull off one of the most amazing catches of his career in 95 tests, in a series in which he has revealed a few he was expected to take.

“It was huge,” Lyon said. “To be honest with you, and this is not disrespectful to anyone else in the team, but I don’t think anyone else is noticing. It’s just me bowling off one end and looking up and seeing Steve Smith in a slip or a slip on the leg”. and have that confidence as a bowler.

“Yes, he’s lost a couple here and there, but I wouldn’t trade him for anyone. It shows the quality of a cricketer we see in training, the different methods he comes up with to try and get better and try and get better This is someone who he has played 95 Test matches.

“Congratulations to Smithy, he did all the work, I’m not surprised, but it was a great time to end the day strong.”

Smith has enjoyed an excellent game as captain having taken over the role in the absence of Pat Cummins. He has been proactive and innovative in his field settings and has been willing to rotate his spinners even when one has had some success.
On the second day, he also brought back Mitchell Starc at a vital post-tea stage as Shreyas Iyer threatened to get loose and created the breakthrough courtesy of another impressive catch from Usman Khawaja at midwicket.

“Obviously I’ve played with Smithy a lot throughout my career, so we’re very good partners on and off the pitch and we can have very good cricket conversations,” Lyon said. “He is one of the best batsmen in the world, especially in the last decade, the way his brain works with cricket tactics gives me good conversations.

“But saying that, I thought Pat ran the game very well last week. We had very good plans with both of them and that’s where Australian cricket is in good hands with one of the best bowlers in the world and one of the best batsmen. “. world being our two leaders”.

Khawaja, who is Australia’s leading run-scorer, allayed fitness concerns with the acrobatic take to remove Iyer after having spent the opening stages of India’s second innings sidelined with a back ailment.

“It was an incredible catch,” Lyon said. “Uzzy has been known to do that. He took a pretty spectacular one in Adelaide a few years ago to see off Virat. Great moment in the game so hats off.”

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