Australian skipper Pat Cummins has backed veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon to equal the great Shane Warne's record of 708 Test wickets and also predicted that he could play for four more years
Australian offie Nathan Lyon became only the fourth spinner in the history of Test cricket to scalp 500 Test wickets. In the 1st Test match against Pakistan, the Aussie picked up five wickets in the match as he crossed the 500-wicket barrier on Sunday, December 17. (Cricket News | December 18 Blog)
Lyon is the second spinner after the great Shane Warne and third bowler overall to reach the feat. Post game, Australia cricket captain Pat Cummins praised the spinner and has backed him to play for more four years and reach the feat of 700 wickets, a record held by Warne (708).
"Still got another four or five years at least, with ten games a year," Cummins spoke about Lyon as the spinner looked on after the conclusion of the 1st Test match.
"I still think you've got 40 or 50 Test matches, that's four or five years with 10 (matches) a year," Cummins further added.
"Averaging four or five a game, so a couple of hundred (wickets) – that's 700," concluded the captain.
However, the off-spinner laughed off the prospect of plucking 700 wickets. But it the great Warne himself who backed Lyon to reach the feat of 700 Test wickets back in the 2019 Ashes.
"I think he (Lyon) is a chance," Warne had told cricket.com.au back in 2019.
"If you do the stats – if he plays another 85 or 90 Tests, and takes four wickets per game, that's 360 wickets – so he'll get me," Warne had said.
"I'd love to watch someone get my record, that would be fantastic because it would mean they've done bloody well for Australia for a long period of time," the legendary spinner had added at the time.