Had former South Australia coach Darren Berry not spotted Nathan Lyon, Australia could well have missed out on one of their most successful spinners ever.

A year before his international debut in 2011, Lyon was a part of the Adelaide Oval groundstaff till Berry spotted his bowling talent. And once he came into the national fold, he was there to stay.

The fifer in his maiden international appearance in a Test against Sri Lanka in Galle back in August/September 2011 underlined his ability and skill, but what followed were two tough years that made the off-spinner go through the grind.

However, with more experience that led him to bank on his strength, which is classical off-spin, Lyon, with 479 Test wickets in 118 matches, is undoubtedly Australia’s best spin bowler in the post Shane Warne era and also one of the top off-spinners in modern-day cricket.

A standout achievement of Lyon is his performance against India in India. With 53 wickets from 10 Tests so far, his numbers outshine even those of Warne (34 wickets in 9 Tests) on Indian soil.

Agreed, Warne bowled to the likes of VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly but it’s the consistency of Lyon that sets him apart from the rest.

Having five five-wicket hauls against players familiar with these conditions since their formative years is no mean feat.

“He usually prefers coming over the wicket. But on this tour, he’s hitting the stumps a lot more. By coming round the wicket, he’s getting more wickets in the form of lbw and bowled.

“Using this different strategy and bowling just the way the wickets demanded has certainly helped him,” Sridharan Sriram, Australia’s long-serving spin-bowling assistant coach (from 2016-22), told The Telegraph.

“Besides, he has got this ability to beat batsmen on both sides (of the wicket). That makes him very dangerous,” Sriram added.

Unlike his Indian counterpart Ravichandran Ashwin, Lyon may not have a bagful of tricks in his armoury. To some, he still comes across as a bowler who bowls within his limitations.

“To an extent, it does seem so (that he bowls within his limitations). But he has certainly mastered his skillset which has earned him success in India,” former India keeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta said.

“Well, Lyon turns the ball so much and despite his revs on the ball, he has the same amount of control. So I would rather say he has no limitations,” Sriram argued.