There is an old-world allure to the way Nathan Lyon goes about his business. No big talk, no chest-beating about new variations, no boast of under-cutters and parallel-seam deliveries. The 35-year-old is a huge investor in his stock ball, the off-break, and it’s an investment that’s paid off handsomely over the last decade and more.

On his third Test tour of India, Lyon has established himself as the second most successful overseas spinner of all time on Indian soil, his 11-wicket haul in the third Test taking his tally of sticks in this country to 53 in 10 Tests. Only England left-arm spinner Derek Underwood, with 54 wickets, is ahead of Lyon, and it’s almost a given that by the end of the final Test in Ahmedabad next week, Lyon would have moved into a league of his own.