Nathan Lyon interested to see Virat Kohli's reaction to cricket without Australian crowds

While the coronavirus pandemic has made the future of cricket highly uncertain, Australian spinning great Nathan Lyon is keeping his hopes up. India were supposed to visit Australia at the end of this year for the Border-Gavaskar series. However, due to the ongoing Australia lockdown, there is a possibility that the series may get cancelled.

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Nathan Lyon intrigued to see Virat Kohli's reaction to no crowds

Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon recently talked to ESPNcricinfo and explored the possibility of playing the series against India in front of no crowds. Lyon mentioned how more and more players have been contemplating the possibility of hosting the Border-Gavaskar series without any crowds due to the Australia lockdown. Nathan Lyon mentioned how him and pace spearhead Mitchell Starc were discussing how the lack of crowds would affect the usually-animated Virat Kohli. Lyon added that he was sure that Kohli would adapt to any conditions thrown at him due to the sheer skill that he possesses.

Kohli is known to either rile up a crowd or bring them on India's side when needed the most by asking them to raise their voice during a game. On instances of scoring a hundred too, some of Kohli's gestures are targetted to a crowd booing him.

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Nathan Lyon to not ignore Cheteshwar Pujara due to Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane

Nathan Lyon also explained that while captain Virat Kohli and vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane remain the usual targets for any team, the classical Cheteshwar Pujara often flies under the radar. When India visited Australia in 2018/19, Pujara smashed three hundreds in the series. Nathan Lyon confidently added that the Australian team will not let Pujara fly under the radar this time and the team will try their best to combat the batsman. Lyon even likened Pujara to the legendary Rahul Dravid by calling him 'The New Wall'.

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Coronavirus: IPL 2020 fate to be decided by the BCCI soon

Virat Kohli was supposed to lead the Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2020 as the team tried to get to its first-ever IPL trophy. However, due to the coronavirus outbreak throughout the globe, the BCCI suspended IPL 2020 till April 15. India also served a lockdown period till April 14 and PM Narendra Modi announced an extension of the lockdown till May 3. The possibility of IPL 2020 happening now have been affected and it is safe to assume that the BCCI will release a statement soon.

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