Considering the historic nature of the pitches in India, it wasn’t surprising when Australia named a Test squad packed with spinners for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the country. Nathan Lyon has been their leading spinner for some time now and he’ll have the likes of Ashton Agar, Mitchell Swepson and the rookie Todd Murphy for company during what is expected to be a testing four-match series beginning February 9 in Nagpur.
While Lyon is an automatic choice in the eleven, the question bothering Australian team management will be who to partner their most prolific offspinner in Test history with?
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Agar is a left-arm spinner, Swepson offers legspin bowling but Murphy, who is yet to get a Test cap and arguably a surprise inclusion in the touring party, also bowls offspin.
And history suggests that Australia may not field two offspinners in their eleven meaning it’s unlikely Murphy could get a game unless circumstances change.
The last time an Australia Test eleven featured two offspinners was in 1988 when Tim May and Peter Taylor played in Pakistan and it’s been nearly 35 years since then.
Could that trend change in India? Australia captain Pat Cummins says ‘all offers are on the table’.
“The reason why he’s here is because he’s a really good spin bowler. All offers are on the table to partner Gaz if we go with two spinners,” Cummins told foxsports.com.au.
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“I’ve only seen a little bit of Todd. Obviously he’s done really well in Shield cricket, and the guys that have faced him have been really impressed with not just his stock ball, but also his variations. Mixing up the pace, (he) flights it slightly differently to what Nathan does,” he added.
The 22-year-old Murphy began offspin bowling six years ago and has taken 29 wickets in his first-class career so far.
“It’s going to come down to pitch conditions and what they feel their best combinations are … (but) there‘s no reason you couldn’t play two right-arm off-spinners over there if conditions suited,” Murphy told cricket.com.au.
“I‘m not really sure what that looks like for me at the start of the tour, but I hope there’s conversations over there that I am in the mix. It‘s about putting my best foot forward. If they do want to go that way I’m confident me and Nath could do a job together,” he added.
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