IND vs AUS: Who is debutant Todd Murphy?

Australia's 22-year-old off-break bowler Todd Murphy was presented with his Baggy Green ahead of play on Day 1 of the Nagpur Test as the visitors fielded two off-spinners for the first time since 1988. The off-spinner from Victoria has scalped 29 wickets at an average of 25.20 in seven first-class matches and based on his performance, the team management has decided to give him his first shot at international cricket.

He is the one with the least experience among the other spinners in the squad, but despite so, the Australian management has backed him because of his sheer promise as a young off spinner.

Ahead of earning his debut call-up in the Australian set-up, Murphy revealed that it was a bit of a surprise for him to get a call-up so early in his career. He however stated that he feels lucky that the selectors identified his potential and included him in an away series against India.

“It came as a bit of a surprise (being included in the Australian squad), to be honest. I’ve been lucky enough that over my First-Class games, I’ve been able to perform well in a few of them, so it was nice that what I’ve been doing had got recognised, and the selectors see something in me,” said Murphy to Sportstar earlier in the month.

Notably, while playing for Sydney Sixers in the recently concluded Big Bash League, Murphy picked up eight wickets in six matches and thus, can be said that he is in form but red-ball cricket after all is a different ball game all together.

Meanwhile, this is for the first time in 35 years when Australia are playing two specialised off-spinners in Test cricket. Tim May and Peter Taylor were the last ones to feature when the Kangaroos took on Pakistan in 1988.

Other than Todd Murphy and Nathan Lyon, Australia have named Scott Boland and skipper Pat Cummins as their two other bowlers in the playing XI. Notably, Boland and Murphy don't have the experience of playing in Indian conditions and thus, it is going to be a very difficult task for these cricketers. When it comes to batting, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey have no experience of playing Test cricket in India and that is going to be challenging as well.

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