This budding Australian off-spinner aims to master Ravichandran Ashwin’s ‘carrom ball’ artistry in Test cricket

After the end of the IPL, the eyes of the cricket world are now on the World Test Championship (WTC), where India and Australia will be face to face. The match will determine the next World Test Champions and is set to begin on 7 June at The Oval.

India, who missed out on winning the inaugural championship in 2021, is determined to claim the coveted mace this time around. In recent years, India have been a dominant team in Test cricket, having won their last four encounters against Australia. When the two teams last met, the match was heavily dominated by the spinners, with India emerging victorious with a 2–1 victory. However, we saw a commendable fight from some of the newbies in the Aussie team.

One of these newcomers is Todd Murphy, who made his debut in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year. Murphy played in all four Tests and took 14 wickets at an average of 25.21.

He managed to trouble the Indian batsmen in spin-friendly conditions. Now, Murphy is keen to enhance his bowling skills by adding Indian off-spinner R Ashwin’s “carrom ball” to his repertoire, which aims to become even more dangerous on the field.

“It’s kind of easy, and yet very difficult. It’s just about being confident that you can execute it. I’d love to be able to add it myself one day. If you have a ball that If it goes in the opposite direction, it presents a different challenge for the batsmen.

However, Murphy stressed the importance of maintaining strong fundamentals while tweaking his bowling repertoire and incorporating variations. He insisted that the stock ball should always be preferred in Test cricket.

Murphy heaped praise on Ashwin and praised the way the veteran off-spinner has operated in Indian conditions. “In those conditions, his skills are as good as anyone else’s and it was amazing to see the subtle variations he was able to implement down the order throughout his overs.”