Lyon adds royalty to list of records

Nathan Lyon has broken countless records in his Test career but the one he claimed on Saturday might well be his favourite.

As the third day of the first Domain Test crawled to a close with India building a daunting lead, Lyon captured the key wicket of India captain and world No.1 Test batter Virat Kohli.

A trademark off-break delivered from over the wicket spun and bounced sharply to take the inside edge of Kohli's bat and balloon into the safe hands of Aaron Finch at short leg.

It was the sixth time Lyon had dismissed Kohli in Test cricket and no bowler in the five-day game has dismissed the Indian run machine more.

Lyon entered the first Test equal with legendary England new-ball pair James Anderson and Stuart Broad as the most successful bowlers against Kohli.

Now Lyon stands alone.

Statistical analysis reveals Lyon has bowled 593 balls to Kohli in Tests – the most by any bowler – and removed the India skipper every 55.1 deliveries.

The accumulated data also reveals how Lyon induces a false shot from the right-hander 12.3 per cent of the time, a mark that is fourth best among Test spinners who have bowled more than 100 balls to Kohli.

England duo Monty Panesar (21.1 per cent) and Graeme Swann (17.6) lead the way, ahead of West Indies leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo (12.7).

But Lyon has taken Kohli's wickets as many times as the Panesar, Swann and Bishoo combined.

Former England captain Alastair Cook is Lyon's most frequent Test victim, out eight times in 18 matches – but Kohli's scalp is one the Australian relishes attempting to capture.

"It's always a great challenge coming up against the greats of the game an Virat's definitely that," Lyon said on Fox Cricket.

"It's good to get his wicket today.

"I actually felt I was going to get him caught bat-pad or even bowled through the gate.

"I was just trying to hit that big foot hole that big Ishant (Sharma) left here for me.

"It was just great to get some reward out of that."

Lyon finished the day with figures of 1-48 from 22 overs but had obdurate No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara out twice before the Decision Review System spared the visitor both times.

India lead by 166 runs with seven wickets in hand, meaning Lyon is set for a big day at the bowling crease on day four.

"It was one of those days," he said.

"I felt like I bowled pretty well where you could have walked away with six or seven wickets.

"But I only have one against a superstar batting line up, it's pretty good."

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: First Test, Adelaide Oval

Dec 14-18: Second Test, Perth Stadium

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Chris Tremain

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar