Border Gavaskar Trophy: Australia Spinner Todd Murphy Stands Tall On Test Debut, Picks Up 7 Wickets In Nagpur

With seven wickets in the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur, Todd Murphy of Australia made an impression on his Test debut. Murphy also made history by taking five wickets on his Test debut, being the youngest Australian to do so. Murphy's statistics were second-best among Australian debutants in India, trailing only Jason Krejza's eight-wicket haul at the same location in November 2008. Only Murphy's bowling caused serious problems for the Indian batting line, which scored 400 runs in the second innings. KL The off-spinner sent up a delivery from close to the wicket, which Rahul flicked directly at Murphy, who held on to claim his maiden Test wicket. Rahul became Murphy's first-ever victim in Test cricket.of his career, a wicket. Early on Day 2 of the match, the 22-year-old appeared to be the lone bowler capable of troubling the Indian hitters. When he finally found night watchman Ravichandran Ashwin on the bottom bunk, he made his breakthrough. The tenacious Cheteshwar Pujara was then taken out by the rookie for only seven runs off of 14 balls. Murphy lofted the ball to the leg side, and Pujara attempted to paddle sweep it. However, he failed, as his top edge took the ball straight to Scott Boland on a short, fine leg.When he eventually defeated former India captain Virat Kohli for just 12 runs, he secured his best Test wicket to yet. A tiny edge from Kohli's attempt to flick Murphy's ball reached Alex Carey behind the wickets. As Murphy finished his five-wicket haul, KS Bharat was the next victim of his skill. After 83.1 overs, the 22-year-old caught the Indian batsman making his debut LBW, leaving India at 240/7.On Day 3, Murphy eliminated the risky Ravindra Jadeja, who was unable to anticipate Murphy's delivery. After hitting Murphy for back-to-back sixes earlier, Mohammad Shami was removed by him, giving him his sixth wicket of the innings. With 47 overs, Murphy finished the inning with a 7/124 batting average. Only Krejza's 8/215 against India in 2008 surpasses his debut stats in India.