Workhorse Lyon tipped to rebound on short turnaround

Australia interim coach Andrew McDonald has backed Nathan Lyon to rebound in "more favourable conditions" in the second Test after sending down 78 gruelling overs for a solitary wicket in Rawalpindi.

McDonald said the nation's first choice Test spinner was "physically fine" after bowling almost half the number of overs in the series opener than what he did in the entire five-match Ashes contest this summer.

Not since January 2019 against India in Sydney (57.2 overs) has Lyon bowled more overs in a single innings than the 52 he did during the opening two days of the Pakistan series and not since August 2016 against Sri Lanka in Colombo has he sent down more in a match.

But unlike the opening Test in Pakistan, the 34-year-old was not required to bowl in the second innings as Australia followed on after India's monstrous 7(dec)-622 before rain washed out the final day, while the match in Colombo was last of a three-Test series.

McDonald, however, is adamant the off-spinner will be able to back up his marathon effort in the opening match when the second Test starts in Karachi in three days' time.

And it's not like he hasn't done it before.

The 106-Test veteran averages 47 overs per Test from 16 matches in the subcontinent – and 64 overs per match in the UAE – and during Australia's last tour to Asia – Bangladesh in 2017 – he backed up his combined 9-161 from 64.3 overs in the first Test with 13-154 from 69.2 overs in the second five days later.

"He's physically fine, he bounced in and out of a lot of different plans (and) there wasn't a lot on offer for the quicks or the spinners," McDonald said after the opening Test finished in a tame draw on Tuesday.

"There was some statistics coming up on the TV, the batters were striking over 80 per cent down the middle of the bat so that's probably a good indication the wicket is not offering much for quicks or spin.

"Clearly it wasn't on his terms, and I thought the way that he applied himself across both innings was admirable.

"There's not too many times when you can keep Nathan Lyon out of the action in back-to-back Test matches so I look forward to him backing up in Karachi.

"He's a quality bowler. I suppose the positive and the negative is he doesn't have too many back-to-back games like that so we look forward to him stepping up again next game in Karachi with probably some more favourable conditions.

"We feel as though he exposed certain areas that we could probably exploit going forward through bouncing in and out of those plans.

"The conditions in Karachi will present something different so it'll be about us reading those conditions, getting our tactics in place, and going forward from there."

It seems almost certain that Lyon will also have a partner to help shoulder the workload with Australia likely to take two frontline spinners into the second Test in Karachi beginning on Saturday.

Queensland leg-spinner Mitch Swepson is firming for a long-awaited debut, although Pakistan's left-arm orthodox Nauman Ali's return of 6-107 on a Rawalpindi pitch that offered little assistance to anyone, and the fact that he took 7-73 in his Test debut against South Africa in Karachi last year, will give Australian selectors plenty to ponder with Ashton Agar also in the touring party.

McDonald said if conditions presented as expected in Karachi come Saturday morning, then there was a "likely chance" the visitors would play two specialist spinners for the first time since October 2018 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi when Victorian left-arm finger spinner Jon Holland played the last of his four Tests.

"That's a big assumption," McDonald said of the conditions they expect in Karachi, where more than half the wickets to fall in the last Test played at the venue were to spin.

"We'll fly (on Wednesday), we'll get down to the ground two days out and go through the usual questions that we ask ourselves as a selection panel, we'll include Pat (Cummins) in on that and work out how we're going to navigate through a Test match tactically and that may lean towards two spinners.

"If the surface dictates another way of doing it, then it could be three (spinners) or it could be back to one spinner, who knows.

"It's a big assumption as we sit here to guess what's going to be happening in Karachi, but it probably leans itself before we got on the plane to come over here to a two-spin venue."

Qantas Tour of Pakistan 2022

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood.

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner. On standby: Sean Abbott, Brendan Doggett, Nic Maddinson, Matthew Renshaw

First Test: Match drawn

March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi

March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore

Australia ODI and T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi

March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi

April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi

April 5: Only T20I, Rawalpindi

All matches to be broadcast in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports