Lyon won't stop believing after strong second day

The Aussies put the brakes on India's batting effort on day two, with Lyon starring on figures of 4 for 67. India still trails by 52 runs with plenty of work to be done in the days ahead.

Lyon has faced criticism throughout his career, but has been excellent on this tour. After play on day two, he shed some light to Grandstand as to why.

"You've got to believe, if you don't believe it's a bloody long day out there, I can tell you that," Lyon said.

"We know as a bowling group if you keep bowling well, keep being consistent enough, over here something's going to give.

"It's just the way Test cricket is played over here, and it's something that happens in a hurry and in small patches.

"We just need to come out tomorrow and bowl well again in partnerships, and hopefully take four wickets."

Lyon has altered his style somewhat in Dharamsala, moving back to the tactics that serve him well on Australian pitches.

The emphasis on bounce undid India's top order, but Australia could have put itself in an even stronger position had some crucial catches stuck.

"As the day went on there seemed to be a lot more variation with spin, and bounce — I know it's a lot more life (in the wicket) than Ranchi, so that's a positive," Lyon said.

"But saying that, I think we've bowled well in two lots to restrict them to 240 all day. I reckon that's a pretty good day for Australia.

"I know we put down a couple of catches, but that happens in cricket — I'm never going to sit here and blame anyone for catches.

"We're doing the hard work at training, and I'm backing Matty Renshaw to come back and take a couple of screamers and hopefully score some runs in the second innings."

Though they may have exceeded expectations, Lyon and Australia are not resting on their laurels with the series still up for grabs, though the off-spinner is not losing sight of what has already been achieved.

"It's awesome, to be honest. It's a young group out there, and like I've said before, everyone wrote us off when we were coming over here ... saying we were going to be no good and we were going to lose 4-0," he said.

"To be coming into a decider, the game pretty even after day two, how good is it? That's why you play Test match cricket."

India v Australia

Date:

25 March 2017

Match:

4th Test

Venue:

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, Dharamsala

Start time: 

14:00

Umpires: 

Marais Erasmus / Ian Gould

Toss:

Australia won the toss and elected to bat.

India trail Australia by 52 runs with 4 wickets remaining — Close of play

Australia First Innings 

300 all out (88.3 overs)

India First Innings 

248 for 6 (91.0 overs)