India v Australia test: Todd Murphy enjoys dream debut as Aussies struggle in Nagpur on Day 2
Todd Murphy enjoyed a fairy tale debut, but his teammates struggled, as India put Australia to the sword with both bat and ball.
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Todd Murphy has taken five wickets in a fairy tale debut, out bowling his senior teammate Nathan Lyon and doing his damnedest to keep Australia from falling too far behind in the first Test.
The bespectacled bowler had a day out picking up the scalps of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul, Ravi Ashwin and KS Bharat.
His stocks have risen so fast that Pat Cummins threw him the second new ball - a role Lyon would usually be granted.
Despite his best efforts, India is running away with the game. An undefeated 81 run eighth wicket partnership by Ravi Jadeja 66no and Axar Patel 52no pushed the home side’s score to 7-321 and first innings lead to 144.
Australia were a little ragged in the field. Steve Smith dropped two catches, Alex Carey one and things seemed to sag as the day got longer and the lead got larger.
The Murphys dad, uncle, cousin and brother made a midnight dash in the car from country Victoria to Melbourne where they and the fiance boarded a morning plane to India.
Such was their haste they had to abandon their baggage, run for a connecting flight to Nagpur.
The excited and a little exhausted group arrived just in time to see their kin make a debut for the ages.
You wouldn’t have wanted to miss a minute of this.
Believe the hype. Todd Murphy, 22, from Echuca via Bendigo and St Kilda, is the real deal.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma, however, batted brilliantly to score his eighth career century and his first against Australia. On a wicket where the best had battled he has taken the game up to the opposition and led his side to a first innings lead.
For Australia, however, this Test has been all about Murphy.
When Nathan Lyon veteran of 115 Tests and captain Pat Cummins appeared to be overwhelmed by the moment, the kid rocked up and rolled his arm over in that metronomic manner that he has grooved so early and should become so familiar to cricket fans.
The only shame was that by the time he was given the ball again on the second morning - he bowled an opening over to enable Lyon to move to the spinning end - the innings was already slipping away from the Australia.
Cummins was leaking runs and India was 1-117 - just 60 in arrears - when he got to continue his work in the 39th over.
Seven balls in, bowling around the wicket, he landed one on middle and let that shot flush into the pads of Ravi Ashwin and the caretaker was out for 23.
Not a lot later Cheteshwar Pujara, the pain in Australia’s side on so many previous occasions, placed a paddle sweep directly into the hands of short fine leg and the veteran was on his way for 7.
Murphy had the first three wickets and was keeping his team within sniffing distance.
First ball after lunch he bowled what might have been his worst ball of the inning but Kohli nicked it and Alex Carey fumbled and then caught it down leg side.
Kohli, curiously, plays better in Australia than at home and is developing a weakness to spin that has visiting teams bringing their slow bowlers on the moment he appears.
Up until the appearance of Scott Boland and Murphy the bowling had, as previously noted, been disappointing.
Boland too straightened out the attack when he replaced Cummins at the other end. The Victorian quick bowling a relentless line and length that made scoring almost impossible.
Credit to keeper Alex Carey who was willing to go ugly and keep up to the stumps to Boland - a tactic that kept the Indians pinned in their crease and conscious of his breath on their neck.
Murphy aside, things did not go well for Australia early in the first Test.
Matthew Renshaw did not take the field at the start of play after apparently having hurt his knee getting off the bus or some such. At first the dressing room reported he was icing it, but then he was seen leaving for scans. He returned to the field later in the day.
Renshaw, who made a golden duck in the first innings, caught Covid on return to the team in Sydney last month, was concussed in the Dubai Test against Pakistan in 2018, had a run in with a stomach bug in Pune in 2017 and was concussed against Pakistan in the 2017 SCG Test against Pakistan.
His failure in the first innings has further fuelled the fires of controversy across cricket at Travis Head’s exclusion.
The middle order batsman’s home state and town is furious and they’re not on their own in questioning the decision.
Former opener and Fox commentator Matthew Hayden said he was “speechless” at the decision to drop “the player of the summer”
Steve Waugh, not one to enter a controversy lightly, was surprised to say the least.
“Hard to believe we can drop the No. 4 ranked Test batsman in the world and probably our best batsman in the last 12 months, plus he bowls better than average off-spin,” he said. “Let’s wait and see — maybe the Aussie selectors are geniuses!”
Former South Australian seamer Chadd Sayers said it was “a fu**ing disgrace”.
RE-LIVE OUR LIVE COVERAGE OF DAY TWO
—Ben Horne
Australia desperately needs quick wickets on day two in Nagpur after Rohit Sharma launched India to within 100 runs of its first innings total of 177.
Pat Cummins’ side was in a strong position at 2-84 before Marnus Labuschagne and Matthew Renshaw went in consecutive balls off Ravindra Jadeja.
The left-arm spinner was India’s hero on Thursday and Australia will need one of its bowlers to produce a similar display to stay in the Test match.
Debutant Todd Murphy has the only wicket after removing KL Rahul to have India 1-77 at stumps.
9.39PM AUSSIES ON THE BRINK AT HANDS OF RUTHLESS INDIA
Australia is on the brink of being batted out of the Test match, with Indian pair Ravindra Jadeja (57 not out) and Axar Patel (28) putting the visitors to the sword late on day two.
At various stages on day two, Australia had kept themselves in the fight, but a 50-run partnership between the two bowlers has put India in a commanding position.
India is 7-292 and 115 runs in front - when all day Australian ex-greats Mark Waugh, Kerry O’Keeffe and Brad Haddin were forecasting that a 100-run lead would just about destroy the hopes of Pat Cummins’ team.
In commentary on Fox Cricket, Waugh felt the Australians - and their star debutant Todd Murphy - were tiring late in the day in arduous conditions in Nagpur.
“It’s starting to get into very dangerous territory if not already for the Australians,” Waugh said.
If Australia loses this Test history is against them getting back into the series.
You take Jadeja out of the team and India isn’t as threatening. Another player in world cricket that has similar impact ? 🔥🔥#INDvsAUS
— Monty Panesar (@MontyPanesar) February 10, 2023
9.17PM JADEJA RIDES HIS LUCK TO GAME — BUSTING INNINGS
Australia’s arch-nemesis Ravindra Jadeja has once again put Pat Cummins’ team to the sword as he celebrated another Test half century with his trademark samurai salute.
But it didn’t come without some giant slices of luck.
Twice Jadeja has survived lbw dismissals by a whisker - with the most recent to Pat Cummins.
He is proving the difference in the Test, with India 7-265 and leading by 88. Australian ex-greats believe a deficit of 100 plus will be difficult for Australia to overcome.
Meanwhile, former Aussie spinner Stephen O‘Keefe has called “bull****” on suggestions Indian star Jadeja was trying to tamper with the ball on day one of the Nagpur Test.
Jadeja, who took five wickets, was captured on camera taking a substance from the hand of teammate Mohammad Siraj and then appearing to rub it on his hand while holding the ball.
Indian team management later explained Jadeja was using pain relief cream and reports on Friday suggested Australia had raised no issues with the match referee.
Speaking on SEN, O‘Keefe said suggestions Jadeja’s motives were to alter the ball were “nonsense”.
“So much BS and carry on - he rubbed something on his finger,” O‘Keefe said.
“Does he really have some sort of secret ingredient that is making him spin the ball more than he should? It is nonsense.”
O‘Keefe said any deficit - Australia now trails by 49 - would effectively spell the end of Pat Cummins’ side’s hopes of getting anything from the first Test.
Since his Test debut, India have won 8 of the 12 Tests v Australia in which RJadeja has played, but only 2 of the 8 which he missed. #serialpest
— Ric Finlay (@RicFinlay) February 10, 2023
8.47PM MUPRHY JOINS LIST OF GREAT AUSSIE DEBUTS
Todd Murphy’s five-wicket heroics in Nagpur has earned him a special place in Australian Test history.
The boy from Moama in NSW is the youngest Australian spinner to take five-wickets since 1882.
His figures sit among the best of all time for Test debutants.
BEST FIGURES ON DEBUT FOR AUSTRALIA
Jason Krejza v India, Nagpur 2008 - 8-215
Scott Boland v England, Melbourne 2021 - 6-7
Pat Cummins v South Africa, Johannesburg 2011 - 6-79
James Pattinson v New Zealand, Brisbane 2011 - 5-27
Nathan Lyon v Sri Lanka, Galle 2011 - 5-34
Stuart Clark v South Africa, Cape Town 2006 - 5-55
Josh Hazlewood v India, Brisbane 2014 - 5-68
Todd Murphy v India, Nagpur 2023 - 5-68
Todd Murphy is the first Australian spin bowler to take a Test five-wicket haul before their 23rd birthday since 1882.#AUSvIND
— Nic Savage (@nic_savage1) February 10, 2023
8.28PM MURPHY TAKES FIVE WICKETS ON DEBUT
Australian whiz-kid Todd Murphy has taken five wickets on Test debut to give Australia a sniff of a miracle comeback in the first Test.
Murphy claimed his fifth in Nagpur thanks to a bold DRS referral which captain Pat Cummins almost reluctantly lodged with only three seconds left on the shot clock.
When the ball tracker showed the ball was in line and hitting - Australian teammates erupted around Murphy as he celebrated the debut every kid dreams of.
It left India 7-241 and 64 runs ahead. But given India have to bat last on this difficult wicket, Australia are not yet out of the fight.
And it’s largely thanks to the domineering display of Murphy who has figures of 5-67.
Murphy’s latest scalp was fellow debutant from India, KS Bharat.
8.15PM CUMMINS FINALLY CLAIMS ROHIT AS AUSTRALIA FIGHTS FOR SURVIVAL
Captain Pat Cummins has once again taken the key wicket at the key moment, but is it too little, too late for Australia?
Cummins knocked over the off-stump of Indian captain and centurion Rohit Sharma with a brilliant piece of bowling as Australia hangs on by a thread.
India is 6-229 and leading by 52 runs with four wickets remaining, but at least the main destroyer Rohit is gone after a stellar knock of 120 off 212 balls.
Experts Mark Waugh and Kerry O’Keeffe on Fox Cricket have declared Australia cannot afford the deficit to drift out over 100 runs or they will be out of the Test match.
It was a strong fightback from Cummins after he was uncharacteristically punished by Rohit’s stroke play on day one.
7.51PM MURPHY TORN ON WHETHER HE CONSIDERS HIMSELF A VIC OR NEW SOUTH WELSHMAN
As a State of Origin feud erupts over Todd Murphy’s roots, the man himself admits he’s not sure how to identify.
Born on the Victorian side of the border in Echuca, but raised on the NSW side in the town of Moama - the border towns are both trying to claim the Test debutant as their own.
Murphy plays for Victoria in the Sheffield Shield, but the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League.
The 22-year-old admits his origin is a “touchy subject” and he has had a bet each way on how he identifies.
Although it would appear deep down he considers himself a New South Welshman.
“It’s a touchy subject I think from people back home,” Murphy said in his bio on the Cricket Australia website.
“I probably consider myself before I came down to Melbourne, a New South Welshman because I was proud of the Moama side of the river. But I think now the more I’ve played for Victoria you have to embrace that part of it.”
7.44PM RENSHAW BACK AFTER INJURY SCARE
India is well in command of the first Test at 5-226 at the tea break on day two, but Australia has received some good news with Matthew Renshaw back on the field after an injury scare.
Renshaw was sent to hospital for scans on a knee he injured in the warm-up before play. However, Peter Lalor reports Renshaw has passed a fitness test and returned to the action in a good sign he will be able to take his place as a batsman in the second innings.
India currently leads by 49 runs with five wickets still in hand and captain - and local Nagpur boy - Rohit Sharma unbeaten on 118 and playing a superb skipper’s knock.
Australia risks bombing out of the Test if India’s lead surpasses 100.
7.34PM NSW OR VICS? STATE OF ORIGIN WAR ERUPTS OVER MURPHY
A State of Origin war has erupted as NSW and Victoria both try and claim Test debutant Todd Murphy as their own.
Murphy’s Cricinfo bio states he hails from Echuca in Victoria.
Certainly Murphy is a proud representative of Victoria in the Sheffield Shield and has come through their system.
However, a number of readers have written into News Corp to claim Murphy is technically from Moama, on the NSW side of the border.
According to the Shepparton News, Murphy is from the Moama Cricket Club. The ABC reported that the Moama community was celebrating Murphy’s rise to Test cricket.
Murphy has been a revelation on debut, with the 22-year-old taking four wickets. India is in control however, at 5-224 and leading by 47 runs with five wickets still in hand.
7.08PM NARROW ESCAPE FOR JADEJA
Scott Boland went agonisingly close to nabbing his first wicket of the Test, when Ravindra Jadeja edged him under the diving right-hand of Steve Smith at slip.
Smith reacted quickly but couldn’t quite get himself low enough to take the extremely difficult chance to get rid of the danger man in the Indian line-up.
Jadeja was 22 at the time, with India now 5-208 and leading by 31 runs.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma is 107 not out.
Boland has been incredible, and deserves a wicket, going at just 1.69 an over from his 13.
6.25PM MURPHY FAMILY’S MAD DASH REVEALED AS ROHIT TONS UP FOR INDIA
By Peter Lalor
Todd Murphy’s family – including his dad, uncle, cousin and brother – made a midnight dash from country Victoria to Melbourne where they and the bespectacled star’s fiance boarded a morning plane to India.
Such was their haste they had to abandon their baggage and run for a connecting flight to Nagpur.
They arrived just in time to see their kin make a debut for the ages.
You wouldn’t have wanted to miss a minute of this.
Believe the hype.
Todd Murphy, 22, from Echuca via Bendigo and St Kilda, is the real deal.
In his first game he claimed the big scalps of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, KL Rahul and Ravi Ashwin.
When Nathan Lyon veteran of 115 Tests and captain Pat Cummins appeared to be overwhelmed by the moment, the kid rocked up and rolled his arm over in that metronomic manner that he has grooved so early and should become so familiar to cricket fans.
Lyon joined in on the act when he bowled Indian debutant Suryakumar Yadav with a superb delivery to leave India five down and on the verge of surpassing Australia’s first innings total of 177.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma (100 not out) now stands between Australia and fighting their way back into the contest.
Rohit brought up his first hundred as Indian Test captain and his first against Australia.
He has been in bulldozing form.
5.44PM MURPHY STRANGLES KOHLI TO CONTINUE DREAM DEBUT
Australia’s newest Test sensation Todd Murphy has strangled Virat Kohli first ball after lunch in a massive moment in the Test.
Wicketkeeper Alex Carey gloved the sharp chance superbly down the leg side, but not before the ball temporarily popped out of his gloves.
Carey recovered to snaffle the ball with his second bite at the cherry to give Murphy his fourth Test wicket.
Murphy has all four wickets for Australia, with India 4-155 and closing in on a first innings lead in Nagpur.
Kohli cursed himself as he walked off the field, out for 12.
Fox Cricket commentator Kerry O’Keeffe described Harry Potter lookalike Murphy as a spin bowling ‘wizard’.
5.06PM LEGEND’S WARNING TO AUSSIES AS INDIA CLOSE IN
Australian Test great Mark Waugh has declared Pat Cummins’ team cannot afford to let India take a lead greater than 100 runs if they want to stay in the first Test.
India trails by just 26 runs at lunch on day two, with captain Rohit Sharma 85 not out and guiding his team to a commanding position at 3-151.
Spinning great and Fox expert Kerry O’Keeffe was full of praise for Todd Murphy’s performance on debut, with the off-spinner taking three wickets, including claiming the key wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara.
But Waugh warned there is little room for error now that India is within touching distance of Australia’s modest first-innings total of 177.
According to Waugh, if Sharma, Virat Kohli and the rest of the Indian batsmen can build a lead greater than 100, the Test may be out of reach.
4.45PM MURPHY KNOCKS OVER THE WALL
Todd Murphy is making a debut to remember as he claimed the key wicket of Indian ‘Wall’ Cheteshwar Pujara.
Murphy now has three wickets on debut in one victory for the selectors who are still under siege over the axing of Travis Head.
The Victorian duo of Murphy and Scott Boland have got Australia back into the arm wrestle, although the Indians are still well in command and closing in on a first-innings lead at 3-135 on day two.
Murphy bowled a wicket maiden as he got rid of one of the hardest batsmen to dismiss in world cricket with arguably his loosest delivery of the Test.
Otherwise Murphy has bowled brilliantly and has outshone established spinner, Nathan Lyon.
Murphy claimed Ravi Ashwin earlier in the session lbw.
“Game on the line. What an exciting challenge,” Fox expert Mark Waugh said.
“This is what dreams are made of.”
Indian great Ravi Shastri complimented Murphy on his performance.
“Very good control and temperament,” Shastri said.
4.18PM MURPHY SEEING CLEARLY FOR AUSTRALIA
Selectors look to have got one of their selection gambles right, with Todd Murphy standing out for Australia in the first Test.
Murphy picked up Ravi Ashwin lbw on day two for his second Test wicket, with India 2-124 and closing in fast on a first innings lead.
Wicketkeeper Alex Carey was crucial in the Ashwin dismissal, with the gloveman’s confidence the ball was going to cannon into leg-stump convincing Pat Cummins to send a referral upstairs to DRS.
It was the correct call and Murphy has his second.
Murphy is a unique sight in Test cricket as a bespectacled bowler, like his mentor - Australian assistant coach, Daniel Vettori.
The Victorian did visit an optometrist on the eve of the summer to investigate getting contact lenses, but didn’t feel comfortable, and will stick to wearing glasses.
3.50PM RENSHAW SENT TO HOSPITAL
Australian batting star Matthew Renshaw has been sent to hospital for scans on his injured knee.
Fox Cricket expert Mark Waugh revealed Renshaw had gone for an X-Ray. The Australian dressing room has just confirmed that Renshaw has been taken to hospital for scans on his knee as a “precaution”.
3.39PM RENSHAW KNEE INJURY DRAMA, AS HEAD WATCHES ON
Australia’s day has started badly with Matthew Renshaw injuring his knee and unable to take the field.
The batsman, who made a golden duck after controversially replacing Travis Head in the line up, felt the injury but warmed up.
He was, however, icing the injury when play began and was replaced on the field by Ashton Agar.
Renshaw has had a bad run of it. Recalled to the side for the Sydney Test, he was kept separate from his teammates for the first few days after developing Covid symptoms in the minutes between the toss and the start of the first days play.
He made 5no from the 11 balls he faced in that game.
The blowtorch remains on Australia’s cricket selectors after their stunning call to axe the batsman of the summer Head for the first Test in Nagpur.
Fox Cricket expert Kerry O’Keeffe described the decision as “perplexing”, pointing to the fact Head could have been the perfect man for the situation Australia found themselves in on day one.
While selectors fear Head’s abilities defending against spin, O’Keeffe believes Australia missed a trick because the South Australian could have counterattacked Australia out of peril and into a commanding position in the match.
Instead, Australia collapsed to a below par score, with India 1-95 early on day two.
“It was perplexing without question,” O’Keeffe said on Fox.
“But you had to back that he’s getting better. He averaged 80 in Test cricket last year.
“I think with Travis Head, they have a perception that he’s vulnerable defending spin. His role yesterday would have been to counter-attack.
“That’s when he’s won Australia games. That’s when he’s turned matches.
“And if he’d gone in, even though the scoreline would have been fairly dire. If he’d played the way he has done in Australia he could have got 70 or 80 quickly and Australia would have 250, 260. Didn’t happen.”
Former Test great Brad Haddin said Australia should have considered pushing Head higher up the order rather than dropping him.
“I think the one thing with Travis Head, you can understand why they’ve left him out. They don’t trust him the way he starts against spin,” Haddin said on Fox.
“But the one thing they could have done is put him up the order to take the game on. Because if he’s set and spin comes on then he’s a much different player.”
2.40PM INDIA EXPLANATION FOR JADEJA BALL FOOTAGE
Indian team management has explained vision of star spinner Ravindra Jadeja appearing to apply a substance to the ball on day one in Nagpur.
According to ESPNCricinfo, Indian officials said Jadeja was “applying pain relief cream to the index finger of his bowling hand.”
The ESPN report noted Australia had not raised the incident with match referee Andy Pycroft.
CLARKE WEIGHS IN ON CONTROVERSIAL VISION
Former Australian captain Michael Clarke has suggested that controversial vision of Indian bowler Ravindra Jadeja wasn’t ball tampering.
Clarke agreed with reports out of India that the bowler was simply treating an injured finger but admitted the vision didn’t look good in isolation.
“He’s bowling so much so he’s probably got a blister or cut on that finger.” Clarke said on radio.
“What he should have done there, he should have given the ball to the umpire and stand in front of the umpire while he was putting it on his finger. “I don’t look at that and think it’s a thing.
“I just wish he didn’t have the ball in his hand. If he chucks the ball to the umpire and does that I don’t think there’s any comment made about that. It’s just the perception. “I don’t think there’s anything to it. I could be 100 per cent wrong.”
The controversy was started by a forensic fan on Twitter who posted a bizarre video of Ravindra Jadeja rubbing the ball during his bulldozing bowling performance.
Jadeja took a scintillating 5-47 and was the difference between the two teams in a superb return to Test cricket in Nagpur.
Agar’s Test future in doubt after Nagpur snubbing
By Peter Lalor
Travis Head’s exclusion was the biggest shock, but Ashton Agar’s exclusion from the first Test in India bodes ill for the left arm off spinner who captured Australia’s imagination with the bat on his Ashes debut all those years ago.
All of Agar’s cricket life was headed for this moment and this pitch.
Never was a wicket or a series better suited for a left arm orthodox. India’s cunning curators had designed a track that Agar could have only dreamt of.
If you can’t bowl here where can you bowl?
The selectors included him over Scott Boland in Sydney and while his performance there was sub par, the SCG is not the tailor made red clay of Nagpur.
Yes, Todd Murphy is rated as the second best spinner in the country, but even the third, fourth or fifth best left armer was sure to profit on this pitch.
Did selectors lose faith in Agar or did Agar lose faith in himself?
Perhaps it was a bit of both.
An intelligent man and a deep thinker, he never looked comfortable in the nets during preparation for the match.
Picked ahead of Nathan Lyon at Trent Bridge for his debut as a teenager, he was dropped after going wicketless in the second Test of that Ashes series, brought back for a pair of matches in Bangladesh in 2017 before being granted what looked like match practice in Sydney.
Should Murphy not work out he may be given another chance in the remaining three matches of this series, but as it stands it looks as if his only role on this tour is to carry drinks and provide net practice for his teammates.
Agar has been a regular member of the Australian ODI squad over the journey and as a consequence has missed a lot of first class cricket over the journey.
In November this year he was in the WACA nets having “a nice long bowl” with the red ball.
“I still have a desire to play red-ball cricket,” he was compelled to say.
The great problem Australian cricket faces with spin bowlers if finding exposure to red ball cricket. Four day Sheffield Shield games on wickets designed to get results make it difficult to create any depth in the slow bowling ranks.
Murphy, like Agar a decade before, is being thrown in at the deep end in the hope that he can swim. Or at least float.
The off spinner from Echuca has only played five Shield games.
Even Shane Warne had played seven before his debut in 1991.
Murphy is a phenomenal talent who impresses all who see him, he made his Australia A debut after two games.
He had a long meeting with captain Pat Cummins, the coaches and Nathan Lyon on the eve of the match, New Zealand legend and spin bowling coach Daniel Vettori is on hand to guide him in his preparation.
Vettori, made his debut after just two first class games for his country.
Both players began life as medium pacers. Vettori was convinced to give up seam bowling by his college head master and was just 18 when the new skill gave him entree to the national team.
Murphy was bowling medium pace at a rep trial in Shepparton when a chance encounter with former Victorian spinner Craig Howard changed the course of his life.
Howard, who was there to watch his son and had no involvement with the squad, saw the aspiring batsman sending down some off spin.
Murphy was bowling slow because he’d grown tired of his stock medium pace deliveries.
Howard mentioned to the coaches that he thought the teen was the best off spinner they had and changed the course of his life.
Murphy moved to Bendigo to play for Sandhurst where he was coached by Howard who lives in the Victorian city.
Australia’s decision to go with two off spinners is extraordinary but Ashton Agar has struggled with his rhythm since arriving in India.
The last time an Australian side played two off spinners was in 1988 when Peter Taylor and Tim May played across the border from India in Karachi.
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