Soft rivalries in sports are worth calling home about. Think of the football goat debate between Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Such faceoffs make the game beautiful, and cricket is home to some of the best. Does anyone remember the onfield clash between batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne?
The same goes for the colorful and storied sway of Brian Lara vs Muttiah Muralitharan. With India and Australia now the two biggest Test champs, we want to bring one rivalry to the table. That’s off-spin bowlers Ravichandran Ashwin of India vs Nathan Lyon of Australia. The two come in as the 7th and 8th most successful off-spinners in cricket Test history — but who will come out on top?
First up – Who are Ravichandran Ashwin and Nathan Lyon?
Ravichandran Ashwin was born in 1986 in the heartland of Indian cricket (read: Chennai). His humbling start is anything but ordinary. Unlike many cricketers who put everything into the sport right from a tender age, the 38-year-old wanted to enjoy the goodies of India’s booming tech scene during his schooling years.
He first went for a degree in engineering, and then became a junior engineer before switching to cricket. In fact, Ashwin’s cricket story is one of smart meeting passion. He’s not just a bowler. Some sports pundits say he’s more of a strategist who uses chess-esque moves to spin up a storm on the cricket field.
Nathan Lyon is an Aussie version of Ashwin, with an equally colorful but humbling start. He was born a year later than Ashwin in Young, New South Wales. Unlike his off-spin rival, the 37-year-old right-hand batter did find cricket at an earlier age, leaving for Canberra as a teen to feature for the ACT Cricket’s.
As a teenager, Lyon played in ACT Grade cricket for both the University of Canberra and Western Districts. In first feature in 2008 for the ACT Comets Cricket Australia Cup, claiming a wicket on day 1 against the South Australian Second X. Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out well for the young Nathan, who found himself working as a groundskeeper at the Adelaide Oval by 2010.
Rise to cricket stardom: Ashwin vs Lyon
Ashwin’s first-class cricket debut came in 2006 when he was picked by Tamil Nadu to play in the Ranji Trophy. He took six wickets in his first stint against Haryana. Ashwin picked up several bragging points as part of the Tamil Nadu outfit, making his first List A in early 2007 and T20 just 2 months later.
Ashwin joined the IPL team Chennai Super Kings in 2008 but sat out the entire season. He claimed two wickets the next season in two IPL appearances. His breakthrough came in the 2010 season, during which he claimed 13 wickets and clinched the IPL trophy with CSK. During the same year, he was also named for the first time into the Indian ODI team, taking two wickets against Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe.
Ashwin may maintain a grounded lifestyle but his fame on and off the pitch is one for the books. He is currently the face of India’s unbeatable bowling side with a record that ties him to the seventh most successful off-spinners in Test spin bowling history.
That’s no small feat given that Ashwin only started seriously featuring for team India in 2015 at the 11th Cricket World Cup where he went on to take 13 wickets across eight matches. After his naming to the national team, he didn’t take long before breaking records.
In his breakout year in 2011, he went on to become the fastest ever player named to team India to reach 150 Test wickets. That record still stands. Anyone who loves cricket knows the name Ashwin by heart. No wonder his image has inspired player characters in many video and online games like Cricket Heroes, Premier League Cricket, and Cricket Star. You can click for more info about these virtual games that celebrate cricket greats like Ashwin.
Nathan Lyon was more of a late bloomer in spite of getting a taste of cricket in his teens. In fact, he played his Test match for Australia at 28. What he lacked in an early start, Lyon made up for with heart, push, and an uncanny ability to read pitch.
When Australia was searching for a spinner after the legendary Shane Warne era, they took a chance on Lyon. It was a gamble that would change cricket history. In 2011, his first Test match against Sri Lanka was nothing short of magical. On his very first ball in Test cricket, he did something most bowlers can only dream of – he dismissed Kumar Sangakkara. His incredible performance of 5 wickets for 34 runs announced to the world that a new spinning talent had arrived.
Lyon wasn’t just a flash in the pan. He became a constant in team Australia and is at the moment the world’s 8th best bowler in Test cricket history, only one spot behind rival Ashwin. But don’t count him out yet. Save for his debut at the age of 28, he took 300 Test wickets in 2017, 400 wickets in 2021, and rounded it up to 500 wickets by late last year.
Head to head: A look at the numbers
| STAT | RAVICHANDRAN ASHWIN | NATHAN LYON |
|---|---|---|
| Total Test Matches | 105 | 129 |
| Total Wickets | 536 | 530 |
| Bowling Average | 23.95 | 30.28 |
| Strike Rate | 50.6 | 61.8 |
| Five-Wicket Hauls | 37 | 24 |
| Ten-Wicket Hauls | 8 | 5 |
Of course, numbers don’t lie: Ashwin comes out on top with a slight favor. But we also love the respect and admiration the two greats have for each other on and off the field. Lyon, for one, has openly admitted that he has learned a thing or two from Ashwin. He once told Fox Cricket that the Indian cricket maestro is a “world-class bowler” who can pick up cues on the fly.
