We saw his class on a pretty challenging wicket once again: Lyon praises Pujara's unbeliavable defence

Indore, March 3: Star Australia spinner Nathan Lyon lauded senior India batter Cheteshwar Pujara for his gritty knock in the second innings of the third Test at Holkar Stadium in Indore.

The star Australia off-spinner - who returned with a potentially match-winning eight for 64 in the second innings - tormented every batter, except Pujara.

Lyon always speaks highly of Pujara who tends to perform at his best against the Baggy Greens. It was no different in the second innings as he batted in complete contract to the rest of the batters who struggled.

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On a surface where every batter was finding it hard to gauge the turn and bounce from Lyon, Pujara was blocking at ease. He scored a gritty 59 off 142 balls before being undone by a special catch at leg-slip by stand-in captain Steve Smith before stumps.

Pujara's wicket opened the floodgates and the entire Indian innings folded for 163 in their second innings, setting a target of 76 runs for the visitors in the fourth innings, with three days to go in the game.

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"I won't describe him as flashy or anything like that. But he's an unbelievable cricketer. I've got a lot of respect for the way he goes about it. Nothing fazes him, whether it's bouncing at the Gabba or spinning in Indore. He seems to find a way and a method.

"A lot of boys and girls can go the way he goes about batting and learn from it. He doesn't have reverse sweeps and shots like that, but one thing he does have is an unbelievable defence. In my eyes, Test cricket is built around defence. We saw his class on a pretty challenging wicket once again," he said.

Lyon has dismissed Pujara on 13 occasions in Tests, including three times in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023.

Lyon has excelled all around the world but expectations are higher when he plays on rank turners in India. How does he deal with that? "It's been an interesting one. Start of my career, I think I felt the weight of trying to win games on the last couple of innings.

"It was actually my dad who sat me down (in 2012) and said 'look, if you do your role, somedays you will have success and somedays you will have... you are able to identify that and when it's your time, grab it and run it with both hands. "My dad who really simplified it for me, I guess," added Lyon.