Laxman lauds Lyon on taking 400 Test wickets

FORMER India batter VVS Laxman praised Australia spinner Nathan Lyon after he became the first off-spinner outside Asia to complete 400 wickets in Tests on Saturday (11) when he took the wicket of England’s Dawid Malan in the first Ashes Test in Brisbane.

In a tweet on the same day, the former stylish batter said, “A huge congratulations to Nathan Lyon on his 400th test wicket. He’s been a terrific bowler with exceptional skills. He becomes the 17th player to achieve the milestone in men’s Test cricket, joining Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath as the only other Australian players. #Ashes.”

Lyon took four wickets in the second innings to pile on the misery of England who put up a good fight on the third day of the Test match but fell like ninepins on the fourth-day morning. Australia won the match by 9 wickets to go 1-0 up in the five-game series.

The 34-year-old Australia off-spinner is now the third-highest wicket-taker from his country in Tests after Shane Warne (708) and Glenn McGrath (563). He is the fourth off-spinner to enter the 400-Test-wicket club after Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and India’s Ravichandran Ashwin (427) and Harbhajan Singh (417).

Lyon became the 17th bowler overall to take at least 400 Test wickets and had the longest wait to reach from 399 to 400 – 326 days and 208 deliveries.

With 403 wickets from 101 Tests currently, Lyon is the seventh-highest wicket-taking spinner in the world in the long format.