Todd Murphy was 10 to 50 times better than Nathan Lyon was on his first India tour: R Ashwin

Todd Murphy. (Photo Source: BCCI)

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 concluded this Monday, with India winning and retaining the series 2-1. Though the series didn’t go well for the Aussies who were marred by a number of injuries and had to settle with a rather uninitiated bowling unit, spinners like Nathan Lyon and Todd Murphy managed to leave a mark with their exceptional bowling.

However, more than Lyon, it was the debutant Todd Murphy who impressed ace Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. Ashwin lauded the 22-year-old Todd Murphy for his ability to bowl brilliantly in alien conditions. Though Nathan Lyon picked up 20 wickets in the BGT series, Ashwin believes it was Murphy’s bowling which made sure that he didn’t give away too many runs from the other end to build up pressure.

“Nathan Lyon came here first in 2013. He went to Sri Lanka before that. Todd Murphy came here 10 to 50 times better than how Nathan Lyon came here on his first Test tour,” Ashwin was quoted as saying on his YouTube channel.

Ashwin also praised Murphy’s ability to bowl from both over and around the stumps and quoted his composure in Indian conditions. He also said that in countries like Australia, spinners aren’t able to extract much from the pitch, and turn can only be attained by using the footmarks. He further said that Lyon was using the rough that he got from Starc’s bowling to generate spin. Meanwhile, Todd Murphy was purely attacking the stumps, bowling from wide of the crease, and employing much variations in his speed, as compared to Nathan Lyon.

“He is going from around the wicket and attacking the stumps. And he is also taking the odd ball away. He is not only bowling the fast back-of-the-length delivery but also has an odd slower one. That flight is definitely catching the batter by surprise. It’s not that easy to go on the back foot and play him. So a lot of credit to Todd Murphy,” he said.

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