Australia is giving young spinner Todd Murphy got a big break in the cricket world as he stepped into the field in the first of the four-Test series against India, known as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. On Thursday, February 9th.
Australia is facing India in the first of the four-Test series, known as the Border-Gavaskar Trophy today. KL Rahul became debutant Todd Murphy’s first Test wicket.
On Thursday, February 9th, the Australian captain Pat Cummins won the toss and decided to bat first on the expected spin-friendly pitch at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
The Australian team has chosen to include four spinners in their squad for this highly anticipated Test series. Nathan Lyon will lead the spin attack and Murphy will join him as the second spinner. The visitors have left out leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson and left-arm spinner Ashton Agar for this first match.
Todd Murphy has played just 7 first class matches
At just 22 years old, Todd Murphy has already played seven first-class matches for Victoria and has taken 29 wickets.
The 22-year-old from Victoria has scalped 29 wickets at 25.20 from 10 first-class matches and is the least experienced candidate among the other three Aussie spinners in the squad— Nathan Lyon, Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson.
In an interview earlier Todd Murphy he said, “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.”
The last time Australia played two specialist off-spinners was in 1988, when Tim May and Peter Taylor played two Tests together in Pakistan.
In another decision, Australia has left out the in-form Travis Head in favor of Peter Handscomb, who performed well during Australia’s last visit to India in 2017. Handscomb last played a Test match for Australia in the 2019 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home.
The decision to drop Head was likely made to reduce the number of left-handers in the batting unit, which already includes David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Matt Renshaw, and wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey.
Pat Cummins spoke highly of their preparation for the Nagpur Test and expressed that the team is feeling confident. Before arriving in Bengaluru for a four-day training camp, the Australians held a two-day spin camp in Sydney where they simulated spin-friendly conditions.
India Versus Australia Match Progress:
| Team | Score | Overs | Run Rate |
| India | 77/1 | 24 | 3.20 |
| Australia | 177 | 63.4 | 2.78 |
India is currently trailing Australia by 100 runs in the 2023 Men’s Test Series, as the match takes place at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground. On Thursday, February 9th, India was at 77/1 after 24 overs with a run rate of 3.20. Meanwhile, Australia had scored 177 runs in 63.4 overs, with a run rate of 2.78.
Nagpur Test, Ind vs Aus 1st Test Playing XI
Australia: David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Matt Renshaw, Peter Handscomb, Alex Carey (WK), Pat Cummins (C), Todd Murphy, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.
India: Rohit Sharma(c), KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
