India vs Australia: 'Nathan Lyon is going to bowl a lot,' says Pat Cummins

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Australia captain Pat Cummins said their off spinner Nathan Lyon will be the team's most important bowler during the Border Gavaskar Trophy as he finds the VCA Stadium surface in Nagpur dry on the eve of the first Test.

"Nathan's going to be right up there with our most important bowlers for this series," said Cummins during pre-match press conference. "He's got to bowl lots of overs, he's got the experience here. He's up for the challenge, he can't wait. He's been working with a lot of the other spin bowlers that are over here as well. He will lead our attack this series."

India vs Australia: 'Rough will be outside left-handers' off stump'

The Australian media has already started raising a hue and cry about "doctored pitches" with one article in Sydney Morning Herald predicting the nature of the wicket even before a ball has been bowled on the VCA stadium track.

Cummins, however, put things in perspective, saying his lineup being loaded with left-handers had prompted curators to dry areas where India's right-hand seamers will create rough spots for the host spinners to exploit.

"Potentially, yes. Looks a little bit dry for the left-handers and knowing how much traffic will probably go through there from the right-arm bowlers, potentially might be a fair bit of rough out there," Cummins said.

But unlike his country's media, Cummins wants to embrace the challenge.

"Again, that's something we've just got to embrace. It's going to be fun. It's going to be challenging at times but our batters will relish the chance to problem-solve on their feet, and quite a few of them will get their chances to do that." Cummins, however, didn't want to predict a first-innings score.

"You have got to bat big in the first innings. It might not be the same for every venue. At some, 250 might be a good score, there might be other venues where you might need 500. Reading the wicket can be a bit difficult at times but you have to be ready for everything."

With inputs from PTI