Australia’s Todd Murphy Follows In Footsteps of Spinners Steve O’Keefe, Jason Krejza; Find Out What’s The Link
Todd Murphy #ToddMurphy
Debutant Todd Murphy scripted history on Friday by claiming a five-wicket haul in his first Test match against India at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. The right-arm off-spinner spun his web on the spin-friendly Nagpur track as the Indian batters struggled miserably against him. Ahead of the first Test, the buzz was around Nathan Lyon but Murphy surprised everyone from fans to the Indian players with his disciplined bowling and natural variations.
The 22-year-old opened his wicket-tally in international wicket with KL Rahul’s scalp on Day 1 but he just spun his magic on Friday to get the better of Ravichandran Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and KS Bharat.
India vs Australia 1st Test Day 2 Live Score And Updates
He joined the likes of Steve O’Keefe and Jason Krejza to become the third Australian spinner to claim a fifer on his first Test match on Indian soil. Krejza also made his Test debut in India during 2018 tour and at the same venue in Nagpur where he claimed eight wickets in the first innings and four in the second. While O’Keefe made his Test debut against Pakistan in 2014 but he grabbed attention when he played his first Test in India during the 2017 tour. The left-arm spinner claimed six wickets each in both innings and caused a lot of trouble for the Indian batters as Australia won that match by 333 runs.
Meanwhile, Murphy also became the sixth visiting bowler to pick a 5-wicket haul on their Test debut in India.
5-wicket hauls on debut in India (visiting bowlers):
It’s not the end of the records tally where he made his name registered as Murphy also became the fourth Aussie spinner to claim a fifer on his Test debut.
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Meanwhile, the 22-year-old has been the only Australian bowler who has caused some major trouble for the Indian batters in Nagpur so far in this match. His senior spin partner Nathan Lyon toiled hard on Day 2 but managed to get only one wicket in the first two sessions – Suryakumar Yadav. While skipper Pat Cummins got his first wicket right after Tea by dismissing Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. The hosts have already taken a 100-run plus lead.
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