Murphy, who made his Test debut in the first match of the series at Nagpur, has taken 11 wickets in the three matches played so far. The right-arm spinner took those wickets at an average of 21.81 and an economy rate of 2.61 in matches played over the ‘rank turners’.
The 22-year-old has particularly enjoyed his battles with Virat Kohli, having sent off the Indian superstar three times in the three games.
“He was amazing. When I think back to Nagpur when he came out to bat, I was at the top of my mark thinking he was the best you can… get to pitch in front of a guy like that. So to be able to have him to the first three Tests has been fantastic, a really fun battle and no different than bowling for a lot of their boys. When I’m there it’s sometimes daunting,” he told reporters before the start of the final Test in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
After starting his career with a five-wicket haul at Nagpur, a 7 for 124, Murphy took three wickets in the Second Test at Delhi, but came back with just one wicket from the Indore Test. His only casualty was none other that Kohli and kept up the pressure by stemming the flow of racing.
Kohli looked good in the first innings in Indore before Murphy managed to come back sharply off an stump and in his attempt to play over the line, the star Indian batsman missed the ball to be adjudged lbw.
“It’s always good when it looks like that. And I think the wicket-rounding plans are always to challenge both sides of the edges, for it to work like it was good and to get it out again was great,” Murphy said when told. been asked about his plans to fire Kohli.
In the first two Tests, Australia played three specialist spinners and although he’s not used to that at home, Murphy isn’t complaining.
“It’s something I’ve never really experienced, playing with two other spinners up front. Steve (Smith) mentioned this before the last test, it’s about putting your ego aside and knowing that sometimes you’ll be doing short spells It doesn’t mean you’re not playing well, it’s probably just accepting it and knowing that at certain times you’re going to play different roles. It was fun and we were able to work really well with each other and we “are quite different,” he said.
Playing Test cricket in India after missing state not too long ago, Murphy said it was a surreal experience.
“We talked about it after Kuhny (Kuhnemann) made his (Delhi) debut. We were both not in the state sides at the start of the season and to be here now playing Test cricket together is pretty surreal. It happened a lot faster than probably us we were both expecting. We just tried to have fun and the relationship is developing well. We can talk about spin bowling, what works and what doesn’t,” he added.
Murphy, and another rookie left arm spinner, Matthew Kuhnemannthey have done the work for Australia in the series so far, supporting the veteran ably Nathan Lyons. Australia made an unexpected return to the series by winning the Indore Test by nine wickets.
(With inputs from PTI)
