“He is something very, very special”: Murphy selected for Test debut

Todd Murphy will face a baptism of fire for his Test debut after being named to play in Australia’s side for the first Test in Nagpur.

Pat Cummins revealed the Victorian’s debut at the toss. Cummins won the coin flip and said Australia will bat first, while Peter Handscomb has sensationally replaced Travis Head in the middle order.

Matt Renshaw also holds his spot, while Scott Boland takes Josh Hazlewood’s spot from when Australia last played in Sydney.

In terms of Murphy, the 22-year-old has played just seven first-class games and has been highly impressive at Sheffield Shield level.

He’s earned selection over fellow tweakers Ashton Agar and Mitch Swepson and will join Lyon in attempting to spin Australia to its first Test away series win over India since 2004.

Former Aussie spinner Steve O’Keefe can’t wait to see Murphy in action.

“He is something very, very special. I haven’t been this excited about an off-spinner since Nathan Lyon,” O’Keefe said on SEN’s Whateley ahead of play.

“I think he bowls with overspin and drop. Not only that, he’s got a lot of skills to his armoury, he can bowl square seam which is important over there… Todd Murphy is the guy in his brief cricket journey so far who can use all of those skills in certain parts of the game and really exploit them.

“I think what you’ll see with Todd is he can bowl the classic off-spinner along with three or four other (types of deliveries).

“I can see him in the next 12-18 months being a suitable replacement for Nathan Lyon and I think we’ll see that straight away in this first Test.”

However, O’Keefe did concede he would have chosen Ashton Agar given the multitude of right-handers in India’s XI.

The Nagpur curators have been accused of a preparing a pitch to favour right-handers, giving the home side a major boost.

With plenty to play for over in India, Murphy will look to make a name for himself on the biggest of stages.

“Todd’s going to have to bowl tight, he’s going to have to bowl straight and he’s going to have to do that containing role because the last thing you want over there is two spinners that are going at four an over there, particularly if you only have two quicks,” O’Keefe added.

“This is what India will do, they’ll put the young spinner under the pump straight away and they’ll force our bowlers to come back and bowl three or four spells in the heat.

“Then you lose your advantage in Cummins, who you want bowling short, sharp, quick spells… I just hope that Todd can produce his best and really lock down an end and do what is required to support the other three bowlers.”

Meanwhile, India has named two debutants in Suryakumar Yadav and KS Bharat.