Pujara v Lyon - pad, rough and a game of roulette

The rough patches on a deteriorating pitch must feel like a double-edged sword to an offspinner. On one hand, it makes his job easier as in he doesn't need a blueprint for where he needs to land the ball. He's got a locked-in location readily available and distinctly marked. There's also enough assistance on offer from these patches - created courtesy the fast bowler's footmarks - to accentuate his skills and his potency. But then, they also have the potential to accentuate his ineffectiveness or in some cases his ineptitude if he fails to make use of them.

Bowling into the rough for a spinner is akin to a gambler who keeps betting on the same number on a roulette table. It might be a strategy employed with the conviction that it'll come good eventually at some point. But there is that odd chance, on a really luckless day, where it simply doesn't work out. Nathan Lyon was having that kind of a day