The contest between Nathan Lyon and Virat Kohli will be seen again in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The Australian spinner recently talks about challenges in bowling to Indian batters. The right-arm spinner has 530 wickets to his name in 129 Test appearance for Australia with an average of 30.28, also has 24 five-fers under his belt.
Virat Kohli has played 116 Tests matches for India, scored more than 9000 runs at an average nearly of 50, with 29 hundreds. In the last game against New Zealand, he looked in great touch. He will be looking to finish the home series against New Zealand on high. Virat Kohli will be keen on converting the starts into a mammoth score in the last 2 Test matches against New Zealand.
Virat Kohli has been the best in the world- Nathan Lyon
In an interaction with Star Sports, Nathan Lyon shared his thoughts on the contest between him and the former Indian skipper. He also went to explain about the feeling to bowl against his counterpart.
“Coming up against someone like Virat Kohli, you obviously feel like you have got the nation against you. If you are able to have a little bit of success and get Virat out or create a chance, you become the most hated cricketer in world cricket quite quickly. I’ve had that little bit of experience bowling to Sachin Tendulkar a number of years ago,” Lyon had said.
“Virat is a superstar. [He’s] been the best in the world probably for a long period of time now. For him to constantly perform at this high level is credit to him. It’s been a privilege to play against him and compete. I’ve always said I want to compete against the best in the world. Virat’s probably brought that biggest challenge out of everyone,” the 36-year-old had added in praise of the former India captain.
Virat Kohli and Nathan Lyon in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
Like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli also enjoys batting against the Aussies in all three formats of the game. The former Indian skipper has good numbers in the red-ball cricket, in 24 matches against Australia, he has scored nearly about 2000 runs at an avaerage of 48.26 with the help of eight centuries and five fifties.
Nathan Lyon also has great record against India batters. He is the leading wicket-taker , with 116 wickets in 26 matvhes he played against Men in Blue at an average of 32.40, that includes his nine-fers as well.
Both Kohli and Lyon are likely to be seen in action when the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will take off from November 22 at Optus Stadium, Perth. The series will conclude in Sydney with the New Year Test, that is scheduled to be played from January 3 to 7, 2025.