WTC Final: ‘This is our grand final,’ says Nathan Lyon

Offspinner Nathan Lyon doesnrsquot believe Australiarsquos preparations for the World Test Championship final will be affected by the talk around the Ashes terming the upcoming contest against India as a ldquogrand finalrdquoIndia and Australia will square off in the WTC final at The Oval from June 7The fiveTest Ashes against England beginning June 16 has dominated the headlines over the past few months as Australia seek to win the marque series away from home for the first time in 22 yearsldquoYes we are playing the Ashes but wersquove got a big game that wersquore up for This WTC final is our grand final and then our season basically starts againrdquo Lyon was quoted as saying by Australian Associated PressSteven Smith takes a catch during Australiarsquos practice session at Beckenham England yesterdayldquoThatrsquos probably where wersquore quite happy with where wersquore at with our planning We are able to understand what wersquove got around the corner and be OK Itrsquos exciting to be part of the final and the fanfare and stuff around it itrsquos bloody specialldquoI know every Australian fan is looking forward to the Ashes and so they should be But they should also be excited about this matchrdquo he addedAustralia will head into the Ashes without any warmup game with the WTC final being the lone match before the contest against EnglandLyon believes the 12 loss Test series in India earlier this year wonrsquot have any bearing on the upcoming contest ldquoYou can wipe off anything that happened in Indiardquo Lyon saidldquoBoth teams are really well rounded in their squads It is going to be a really good challengeldquoIndia obviously have some class batters but they have some class fast bowlers as well Itrsquos going to be a good challenge Both squads going at it and competing for one game itrsquos going to be a really good challengerdquo he saidldquoItrsquos a fresh start Irsquom looking forward to itrdquo Also Read WTC Final 2023 Date time venue complete squads live streaming and moreThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever