Recent result has Lyon eyeing an Adelaide spin surface

As an eagle-eyed follower of first-class cricket around the world, Nathan Lyon would be well aware of the events that unfolded in a Sheffield Shield game at Adelaide Oval last month.

On the final day of a tightly-fought encounter between South Australia and Victoria, local leg spinner Lloyd Pope bowled his team to a rare win over their eastern neighbour claiming 6-74 as Victoria fell 139 short of their victory target.

It revived memories of the ground's not-so-distant past, when SA spin bowlers the likes of Ashley Mallett, Terry Jenner, Peter Sleep and Tim May habitually made use of optimal day four pitch conditions to squeeze out last-gasp wins.

Pope's wrist-spinning skills set might be markedly different to Lyon's off breaks, but the latter also knows the late-game benefits available to spinners even though the Adelaide pitch was replaced by a drop-in version a dozen years ago.

Not only did Lyon begin his record-breaking career with SA while also working on the ground staff at Adelaide Oval, in his first Test appearance at the venue – against India in 2012 – he helped Australia to a huge win with 4-63 from more than 20 overs in the fourth innings.

Three summers later, Lyon led his team to one of their most memorable Test triumphs over India when his 7-152 on day five delivered a 48-run win in the most poignant of circumstances.

So it's likely the last-day exploits of a fellow spinner barely a month ago was a conversation point when Lyon sought out his former boss and Adelaide Oval head curator Damian Hough prior to Australia's training session yesterday.

Hough today confirmed he has used the template of this summer's Shield games at Adelaide Oval in the preparation of his Test strip, and revealed the response to the track for that Victoria match provided a benchmark to which he now aspires.

"The feedback was unbelievable," Hough said of the four-day match in which 38 wickets fell for just over 1,000 runs across 12 sessions.

"It was like your best-case Test match going late on day four and the feedback, whether it was text messages or verbally, was outstanding.

"So if we could produce every pitch we ever produce in the longer format like that Victoria game, we'd be happy.

"And if we can do something close for the Test match, we'd be extremely happy."

Lyon enters the second NRMA Insurance Test beginning at Adelaide Oval on Friday as the leading Test wicket-taker at the venue, his 63 scalps eclipsing legendary leg spinner Shane Warne's 56 from the same number of outings (13).

More than half of Lyon's wicket haul (37) came from bowling in second innings when his strike rate (a breakthrough every 49.8 deliveries) is also superior to that of Warne (56.6) who was renowned bowling Australia to wins at the back-end of Tests.

It's hardly surprising, therefore, that Lyon considers Adelaide Oval his favourite cricket ground and believes the pitch Hough will roll out on Friday will yield the bounce and spin he has found so beneficial.

"I went and spoke to Damian yesterday, mainly just to catch up with him and see how he's going," the 37-year-old said prior to Australia's main training session at Adelaide Oval this evening.

"It's a great venue to (bowl) spin and I think what Damian does is he produces a great wicket that's got enough in it and it's challenging for both bat and ball.

"If you're good enough with the bat you'll score runs, if you're good enough with the ball you'll hopefully create enough chances along the way.

"I think this is probably the best cricket wicket in the world so I'm expecting it to be pretty helpful to spin bowling as well."

Despite being the second-most successful finger spinner in the history of Tests with 532 wickets, Lyon found himself the target of a belligerent attack from India's debutant all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy in Perth.

Reddy struck four boundaries off Lyon in scoring 41 from 59 balls to crucially lift India's first innings total to 150 – two of them hefty blows down the ground, the other two deft but powerful reverse sweeps.

But having been struck for more sixes than other bowler in the Test match game, Lyon holds no fear of batters going after him as he knows it increases his chances of claiming a wicket.

"It's international cricket, you're playing against the best players in the world," Lyon said of the upstart rookie's approach.

"So I'm not surprised, but I don't mind getting hit for boundaries.

"It provides opportunities for me to hopefully create a few chances along the way."

What has surprised the 130-Test veteran is the absence of fellow long-time spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja from India's starting XI in the first match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series, with indications neither will be recalled for the second.

Ashwin is currently the most successful finger spinner in Tests with 536 wickets from his 105 appearances, while Jadeja remains one of the world's most potent all-rounders with 319 scalps from 77 Tests as well as more than 3,000 runs with four centuries and 21 fifties.

"It more than surprises me," Lyon said today when asked for his view on the duo's continued exclusion.

"But that's the quality of the Indian cricketers they've got in that squad.

"You've got Ashwin with 530-odd wickets, then you've got Jadeja with over 300 wickets so that's pretty remarkable to see the quality of players that are sitting on the bench.

"I can't control who they run out but it will be a good challenge no matter who they bring out, that's for sure."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (D/N)

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad (for second Test): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal