So much for pink-ball Tests only suiting the quicks.

Seven years after the introduction of the day-night format, Nathan Lyon is this week poised to become the leading Test wicket-taker in Adelaide.

Australia's offspinner requires one more scalp against West Indies to go past Shane Warne, after joining the Test legend on 56 wickets in last year's win over England.

Remarkably, Lyon's wickets come at a cheaper rate with a pink ball at the ground, with 24 at an average of 25.12.

Once a curator in Adelaide, Lyon claims part of that is down to the extra grass left on the wicket for a pink ball offering more grip for his tweakers.

"It's a mixture of everything," Lyon said.

"The way Damian (Hough) produces the wicket with the moisture content, the grass levels, the thickness of it.

"It's all in combination into a great wicket and is probably why this venue here is a world-class leading venue."

The pink ball is also part of it.

While the ball does nothing differently for Lyon, the spinner says batsmen find life harder.

"You talk to the batters and some batters find it hard to pick up the seam at night," Lyon said.

"So potentially (you) bowl a few more variations, simple things like cross seam and stuff, to try and keep the batter guessing."

The other record of Warne's Lyon can break in Adelaide is in combination with Steve Smith.

Smith's two catches in Lyon's fourth-innings figures of 6-128 in the first Test in Perth brought the pair level with Warne and Mark Taylor's Australian record, with 51 instances of bowled Lyon, caught Smith.

That in itself is telling given that Lyon spins the ball back into the right-hander, as opposed to the ball going with the edge off the legspinner.

"It can be a difficult catch as the ball is spinning into the right hander and the edge is going away from the keeper or the slips," Lyon said.

"Smithy actually sent me that message yesterday saying congrats, we are equal with (Taylor) and Warnie. When you see it like that it is pretty remarkable.

"I love having Smithy there, and he gives me a lot of feedback on different paces and how the shape is looking."