Cheteshwar Pujara vs Nathan Lyon, A decade Long Battle that is Winding Down with Patience

Rohit Sharma’s expression said it all when Cheteshwar Pujara was batting with the tail. Mid-off was up, but Cheteshwar Pujara continued to block Nathan Lyon, who had claimed most of the Indian batting line-up by then with some expert bowling on a track with a lot of spin. At 144-7 India were struggling to put up a total. They conceded a considerable lead in the first innings and collapsed in the second as well.

In the second innings though, Cheteshwar Pujara was putting up a masterclass on how to bat on a spin friendly track. In his own traditional method, he was blocking Nathan Lyon out ball after ball as he has done on countless occasions over the last decade. However, with Wickets falling at the other end, Pujara needed to go harder, and he did, taking Nathan Lyon on in a manner he normally wouldn’t against Lyon.

Through their careers, Nathan Lyon and Cheteshwar Pujara had some of the fiercest battles. No batter managed to play Lyon in Australia as well as Pujara has, while Lyon, from his side has managed to strangle Pujara in his own ways when he came to India. 21 encounters, 13 dismissals and an average of 62 shows that Nathan Lyon has managed to get Pujara, but only after Cheteshwar Pujara blocked the life out of him.

Their battle began back in 2013, when Australia toured India, and peaked in 2017, when Pujara emerged as India’s best batter in the series. In 2018-2019 he went on to dominate Lyon as Lyon was left asking if Pujara was bored of batting. In 2020-2021, Lyon did get the better of Pujara as Pujara struggled to score runs, but only after facing a considerable number of deliveries.

The current series and a potential WTC Final though could be the last time the pair take each other on in what has been a fierce decade long battle. It’s been a different one this series though. Throughout the series, Pujara has been intent on scoring runs at a quicker pace, as he has been after his comeback to the Indian Team. He was out sweeping in the first Test, and in the second Test, Pujara did not hesitate to step down hit the ball over mid-on.

Unlike before, where Pujara would block bowlers out, Cheteshwar Pujara has been a lot more busy, particularly against Nathan Lyon. Stepping out, rotating strike and using the flick has become a new style when compared to Pujara’s old approach where he’d pad Nathan Lyon’s deliveries outside off. He continued to play percentage Cricket, which is something he does so well, but this time with a little more urgency, walking on a thin line against a raging Nathan Lyon, who was finding some incredible purchase and was in rhythm.

His control percentage against Nathan Lyon was high as normal, despite Nathan Lyon getting the better of the Indian batting line-up. As always, Nathan Lyon went for the traditional leg side strangle, bowling with a leg-side dominant field. With Cheteshwar Pujara stepping up, he added even more protection on the leg-side as the innings progressed. Lyon continued to build pressure, but Pujara continued to soak it in an release pressure with occasional breakaways shots.

As he did in Adelaide five years ago, Pujara started patiently, watched partners come and go, and batted with the tail. In Adelaide though, Pujara managed to score at a really quick rate after a slow start. Here, he faced 80 odd for his first 40 and then went on a stretch of 51 balls only scoring nine runs. Wickets kept going and the pressure of setting a target was building. Nathan Lyon though gave up on looking for the outside edge and threw it all on the leg-side trap.

To his fortune, and Pujara’s misfortune. Cheteshwar Pujara’s attack after 50 didn’t last long. A stunner at leg-slip saw the back of him ending another fierce battle between Lyon and Pujara. The pair have faced each other in a total of 1265 deliveries with Pujara making 561 runs and Lyon claiming him 13 times. In the period between their careers, no batter-bowler pair has faced each other as many times. Likewise, no batter has scored as many runs against one bowler as Pujara did against Lyon and barring Stuart Broad and David Warner, no bowler managed to dismiss a batter as many times in the last decade.

With both of them approaching the latter stages of the career, we could well be seeing their last set of battles. The next Border Gavaskar Trophy is in 2024 and the pair will be 37 by then. With both of them playing only one format they could still be around, but form and selection may have a say. For now though, they have a couple more battles to go, and fans can only hope the upcoming battle are as good as the Indore one, which had both players fight out in a battle of patience.