It is no secret that Nathan Lyon is Australia’s premier finger spinner at this point of time. His resurgence post 30 is the reason why the Aussies perform at such a high level in test cricket. While the much vaunted pace attack does the heavy lifting, Lyon is the glue that holds this bowling attack together. While he’s popularly known as “Gary” among his peers in the dressing room, the latest nickname making the rounds for the spinner is a rather peculiar one which initially started off as a joke, but is now being taken with a bit more respect with every passing game. Lyon nowadays is being addressed as “Goat”, which is a take on being the greatest of all time.
However, this initially started off as a joke around 3-4 years ago when India came to tour on Australian shores. After Australia won a test match to level the series, there was picture in the paper paying tribute to Lyon while taking a sly dig at Kohli in which there was a goat with Lyons face on it and calling him the GOAT. This was shown in the first season of the Australian docu-series called “The Test”. So that name has stuck for him ever since. While initially it was used in jest and to egg him on, his recent performances have made everyone take notice and there are genuine conversations to include him in the greatest conversation.
In 112 tests, Lyon has scalped 450 test wickets. He had to wait for a while to get his 400th test victim, but once he got that, Lyon has gone about spinning a web around some of the best batsmen in the business. In a time where finger spinners are slowly becoming a footnote, Lyon along with Ravichandran Ashwin have been the leading torch bearers for off-spinners, with Ashwin just a wicket behind at 449. The fact that Lyon has been a factor on Australian pitches which do not generally have any assistance for spinners makes his achievements that much more staggering in the longest format of the game.
There have been multiple instances that Lyon has single-handedly willed the Aussies back into a test match after the pacers failed to make inroads in the opponents batting line-ups. With his numbers and his multiple instances of willing his side to victory, a fair few section of fans do believe that Lyon should be involved in the conversation of being one of the greats in the test circuit. While that interpretation remains open to debate and a much clearer will emerge when Australia travel to India for the much anticipated Border-Gavaskar test series, with the Aussies look to win a series on Indian soil for the first time in 18 years.
Is Lyon your GOAT? Or is he your goat?. The choice is yours.
