Yashasvi Jaiswal's aggression keeps Australian bowler 'awake at night' before Border-Gavaskar Trophy: 'When he targeted Hartley...'

The Australian bowlers understand the importance of reaching their peak performance levels and then going above and beyond to halt the unstoppable Indian team and prevent a third consecutive series loss. Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood have proven themselves on numerous occasions, and while Australian pitches typically favor fast bowlers, the team will also heavily rely on Nathan Lyon. Known affectionately as Gazza, Lyon thrives when bowling against India, as evidenced by his impressive record of 116 wickets from 26 Tests. However, even Lyon, a seasoned pro, is feeling the pressure thanks to the talented Jaiswal keeping him up at night.

During a chat on the LiSTNR Sport podcast, former Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin asked Lyon to name an Indian player who 'keeps him up at night'. And while the expectation would have been either Rohit, Kohli, or Pant, all three of whom Lyon had previously name-dropped, the Australian off-spinner's pick was the 22-year-old Jaiswal.

"There's a lot of thought going into it. Obviously, I have come across the majority of them, but Jaiswal is someone I haven't. I had a couple of good chats with Tom Hartley [of England] just about how we went about it. I know we are totally different spinners but when Jaiswal went after him, that's something I can pick up from him and hopefully put that into play. Just watching the whole lot – Sarfaraz coming out. Will he be in there or will it be Rahul? I don't know. They are full of superstars. It's pretty special," Lyon said.

Hartley, the left-arm spinner, was the second-highest wicket-taker of the five-Test series earlier this year, finishing with 22 scalps, four behind Ravichandran Ashwin's tally of 26. Hartley dismissed Jaiswal only once, but the left-handed explosive opener did get out to Joe Root and Shoaib Bashir twice each in the series, both of whom are right-arm off-break bowlers like Lyon.

For the first time in decades, India start favourites for a Test series in Australia. They are obviously buoyed by the fact that the last two times they toured Australia, India emerged victorious 2-1. Lyon is aware of the bigger picture: To bring the Border-Gavaskar Trophy back to Australian shores after 10 long years. And for that, he reckons Australia need lots and lots of runs from their top order.

"We need big runs, and we need the guys who are talented enough to get hundreds – Smith, Marnus, Head and the entire top order. We don't want 100, or 101. We want 180-200. That makes up for if I have a day off. That goes a long way into winning a Test match but overall, it's going to be good cricket. The pitches will offer a good contest between bat and ball," Lyon pointed out.