Veteran Australian spinner Nathan Lyon believes that rival players often serve as the “best coaches”, acknowledging that his Indian counterpart Ravichandran Ashwin has “taught” him a great deal through their faceoffs since 2011-12.

Having made their Test debuts in the same year, Lyon and Ashwin will face each other for the eighth time in the longest format during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy five-Test series beginning in Perth on November 22.