'Nathan Lyon is a better bowler in Tests than Ravichandran Ashwin,' says Aakash Chopra

Former Indian opening batsman Aakash Chopra has opined that Nathan Lyon is a better bowler than Ravichandran Ashwin in Test cricket. He also shared his views on why India does not play leg-spinners in Test matches.

Aakash Chopra recently discussed various aspects of the game while responding to viewer queries on his YouTube channel.

When asked to choose the better off-spinner between Nathan Lyon and Ravichandran Ashwin in Tests, Aakash Chopra cast his vote for the former. He reasoned that Lyon's energy at the crease allows him to generate appreciable bounce, which makes him a better bowler in batting-friendly conditions.

"I am going with Nathan Lyon, especially in the recent past. It is because I like a couple of things about Nathan Lyon. Firstly, I like his body action. He puts the body behind the delivery. He gets good bounce. And in conditions where the pitch is not tailor-made for spin, there also he does very well."

Aakash Chopra was quick to add that Ashwin would be his pick if the two bowlers were to play in spin-friendly sub-continental conditions:

"If you play Ashwin and Lyon in spin-friendly conditions, say in India, Ashwin will be miles ahead. And he will take wickets quickly and consistently against any opposition team."

The respected commentator iterated that Lyon was able to perform better on good batting surfaces as he was used to bowling in such conditions and was also familiar with the Kookaburra ball.

"But Nathan Lyon on good surfaces like South Africa, England or Australia, since he is born and bred in Australia, he knows how to put the body behind the ball. He is also friendly with the Kookaburra ball, so the revs on the ball and all of that, Nathan Lyon does that more."

Only Nathan Lyon has taken more Test wickets since Ashwin's debut......but the Indian has done it in 45 innings fewer 🧐 pic.twitter.com/2LDmmthtVV

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) October 5, 2019

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Aakash Chopra on India not using leg-spinners in Test cricket

Aakash Chopra believes that wrist-spinners like Kuldeep Yadav will be very useful in Australia

Aakash Chopra was further asked why India does not utilise leg-spinners in Test cricket when other teams do.

The former cricketer stated that the first reason is that India do not have a leg-spinner who could run through the opposition.

Aakash Chopra was quick to add that Kuldeep Yadav is also a leg-spinner who had performed admirably in Australia.

"Actually there are two reasons for it. Firstly, do you see any leg-spinner who can take lot of wickets in Test cricket. Kuldeep Yadav is also a leg spinner, but you are not able to play him as well. Last Test he played, he took 6 wickets at Sydney and he got great praise. I was there at the time and all Australians were asking where we had hidden him till now as he is a huge match-winner."

#AUSvIND: A shortened day at Sydney due to rain saw Kuldeep Yadav bowling beautifully in his first appearance of this series. How do things stand in this 4th Test? Does India still have a chance to make it 3-1? All this and more in this #AakashVani pic.twitter.com/RIgTpzo8t1

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) January 5, 2019

According to Aakash Chopra, the other reason why leg-spinners do not make it to the Indian Test team is the proficiency of Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, whose performances do not allow any other spinner to get a look-in.

"But since then we have not played him in a single Test match. We keep him in the squad, both at home and away, but never play him in any match. Why? Because Ashwin and Jadeja don't allow anyone else to come into the team at all. Where you have to play one spinner, there you already have a contest. And where we have to play 2 spinners, then Ashwin and Jadeja get to play and we don't get an opportunity to play 3 spinners."

Aakash Chopra also believes that India should once again consider Kuldeep Yadav as an option when they travel to Australia at the end of the year, considering the fact that the Aussies are not very comfortable against spin and that the matches would be played with the Kookaburra ball.

"But then, you have got to keep him [Kuldeep Yadav] in the scheme of things because when you go again to Australia in end of 2020, you will ask yourself again if we can play a wrist-spinner. And that becomes a viable option when it is a Kookaburra ball and you have a team in front who does not play spin that well."

Aakash Chopra added that Yuzvendra Chahal is probably the only other leg-spin option for India but even he would struggle to make the Indian test line-up.

"The second leg-spinner in the queue is Yuzvendra Chahal. His heart longs to play Test cricket and I feel he will do well in Tests as well because he is already a mature bowler, but his chance will not come easily. Other than him no one else is pushing the door down either."