Felt like I bowled better today than what I did in Indore: Lyon

Nathan Lyon scalped 11 wickets on a rank-turner in Indore to help Australia pull off a rare win but the seasoned off-spinner believes he bowled a lot better on day three of the fourth and final Test in Ahmedabad. The surface has hardly offered anything to bowlers and batters have had hardly any trouble scoring runs for the first time in this series.

After Australia got 480 in their first innings, India reached 289/3 at the end of day three, still trailing by 191 runs. The day belong to Shubman Gill who scored a stunning century but Lyon didn’t allow Indian batters to score freely. The 35-year-old has conceded only 75 runs in 37 overs so far and also took the wicket of Gill.

"It's more of a patient game. When the pitch is like Indore... I felt like I bowled better today than what I did in Indore. And it's just coming down to doing your basics well enough for long enough," said Lyon.

The surface is still very good for batting and the hosts have seven wickets remaining, with Virat Kohli unbeaten on 59*. Lyon, however, feels this game will produce a result. 

"Where are we in the game? I think it's pretty even to be honest with you, we know in this part of the world, games can speed up quite quickly, so it's about being patient for long periods of time and not chasing the game," the veteran off-spinner said.

"Tomorrow is a new day. We had (89 overs) on that wicket today. With the warmer weather here hopefully there's still a result in this game. We've just got to bowl well in the morning and get the pressure in their change room.

"These are the type of Test matches that are won in the last half an hour of day five, and these are the type of Test matches you want to be a part of. The hard grind with a potential great reward at the end of it. They're challenging, but we're all up for a challenge, and it's a proper grind, good Test cricket."

The offspinner also heaped heavy praise on Gill who brought up his maiden Test century at home. "I felt the way Shubman played was exceptional, to be honest. His defence was there but he was also quite proactive and wanted to look to score.

"That one I got him out was probably a little bit flatter, a little bit faster than what he was expecting. So a decent ball on my behalf, but I thought the way he went about it was pretty special. His second Test hundred and he looked quite comfortable and confident with the way he was going about it. He's definitely a special player."