Ravichandran Ashwin looking forward to competing against Nathan Lyon in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 

Australian premier spinner Nathan Lyon went past Ravichandran Ashwin in the list of highest wicket-takers in Test cricket against West Indies in the first Test at Perth.

He will look to add a few more to his kitty before the two best spinners in this format lock horns against each other in the highly-anticipated Border-Gavaskar trophy slated to be played in February.

Ashwin, who shares a good camaraderie with the veteran Aussie spinner, is looking forward to meeting him and competing against him in the upcoming Test series.

Lyon bagged the wicket of Jermaine Blackwood to level Ashwin before going past him with the wicket of Kyle Mayers. He also became the 8th highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.

Lyon wreaked havoc on the final day of the Perth Test, snaring six Windies wickets to hand Australia a 164-run victory. Such was his deceptivity on a tricky final day track that even the set Kraigg Brathwaite, who was batting 110 couldn’t fathom the quicker arm ball from Lyon.

Speaking on his Youtube channel, Ashwin said:

“Nathan Lyon took a six fer in the 2nd innings and ended with 8 wickets in the match. He went past my tally of Test wickets and came into the top ten bowlers in terms of wickets taken. I was with 442 wickets, he has gone past me and is currently at 446."

He added:

"Once my buddy is done with his home series, he will come to India and I am looking forward to that series. Overall, Australia played really well. But in another important news…. While talking about my buddy Nathan Lyon, even my pen flies, I don’t know why. Anyway he will come here when Australia tour India next year. Looking forward to meeting him and competing against him.”

Since making his Test debut way back in 2011 against Sri Lanka, Lyon has emerged as the frontline spinner for Australia in Tests, having taken wickets consistently in Australia and across the globe. However, Lyon has lacked a proper spin partner which has been Australia’s drawback in this format for a long time.

Ashwin names a few spinners who could be the future of Australian cricket

It would have been tough for Ashwin to name a bowler who could replace Lyon around 18 months ago but with a variety of young spinners rising through the ranks in Australian cricket, Ashwin is hopeful that the likes of Ben Manenti and Tanveer Sangha can make an impact for Australia in this format.

“They are in search of the next line of Australian spinners. In Big Bash, there will be an off-spinner named Ben Manenti. Then they have Tod Murphy. Recently his videos got viral. They also have two left-arm spinners. They also have the leg-spinning sensation Tanveer Sangha,” Ashwin said.

"If you had asked me before 18 months on whom the next spinner should be for Australia, I would have really struggled to answer. But in the last 12-18 months, they have got many spinners coming through the ranks as mentioned by Steve O’Keeffe in one of the articles,” he added.

Leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson is already in the waiting line but Ashwin felt that it was important for Australia to have a few more options in their kitty. Steve O’Keeffe in one of his articles also mentioned that Australia is planning to use Nathan Lyon as a mentor and help the young spinners graduate under him.

Ashwin added,

“In fact, they already have Mitchell Swepson waiting in the line. So he will be the frontline spinner after Lyon. But they still need other options. In the next 2-3 years, they are planning to make Nathan Lyon a mentor for these young spinners coming through to make the transition process to international cricket smoother."

He continued:

"To start planning when he is around and give him the role of mentorship to plan his successor is what Australia is thinking.”

Coming to the Indian Premier League. BCCI has decided to introduce the Impact Player Rule in the next IPL. It was introduced in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. As per reports in the Cricbuzz, BCCI is satisfied with the experiment and now wants to implement it in the biggest T20 league across the globe.

"The concept is to allow one substitute player per team to take a more active part in a match. This would add a new tactical /strategic dimension to the game. A number of team sports allow teams to make tactical substitutes i.e. football, rugby, basketball, baseball. The substitute is allowed to perform or participate like any other regular player," the BCCI had said while introducing the rule in the SMAT earlier this year.

Ravichandran Ashwin feels impact player rule could diminish the role of all-rounders in T20 cricket

Ravichandran Ashwin, who has played in every edition of the IPL since its inception in 2008, felt that the introduction of an impact player might diminish the impact of all-rounders in this format.

He was also of the opinion that the new rule will benefit a team who might have named an imbalanced XI for a game.

He elaborated:

“The BCCI has decided to introduce Impact Player Rule from the next IPL. What impact will the impact player rule have in the acutions? All-rounders like Sam Curran, Ben Stokes. Well, Tristan Stubbs can be considered an all-rounder. We had Dwayne Bravo. Dwaine Pretorius, Moeen Ali and Ravindra Jadeja are all-rounders too."

"I might have missed out on naming a few all-rounders. I can’t cover all. Why do these all-rounders are always in popular demand? T20 is a batsman’s game. Bowlers will struggle in this format and on days you might need players who can roll their arm over. That’s why captains like of cushion of having an all-rounder. But I feel this Impact Player rule might lower the popular demand that all-rounders usually have,” Ashwin said.

He added:

“Teams that don’t have a balance or have named an imbalance XI will consider this rule to be a boon. The accountability of a coach will increase as the move might backfire and lose your team a game."

"The Impact player rule is there to stay in the game. The entire consumption and approach of T20 cricket will be changed this year, I feel. This IPL will become an example for international cricket. This might even turn out to induce more interest in the game in the future.”

The IPL Auctions are slated to be held in Bangalore on December 16 and several big names will feature.