Todd Murphy has had a “special” couple of days and the Australian Test debutant, couldn’t be happier for his five-wicket haul against India in the opening Test.

Murphy has so far picked 5 for 82 in 36 overs in India’s first innings, claiming KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujura, Virat Kohli and KS Bharat, in that order, to become the first Australian spinner since Nathan Lyon to take five wickets on Test debut.

“It’s been a pretty special couple of days and to top it off with a five-wicket haul on debut is more than I ever hope for and it is going to be something that I’ll look back on for the rest of my life and be proud of,” Murphy said at the end of the second day’s play.

Murphy was all praise for the Indian batters and their ability to use their hands against spinners.

“I haven’t bowled to a lot of people from around the world but I think the Indian guys they use their hands really well. They get their hands out in front of their pads and they have got a lot of scoring options too. So always a really difficult challenge there,” he said.

Rathour praise

India batting coach Vikram Rathour termed Rohit Sharma’s century as “special”.

“It was a special innings by Rohit and it is a great feeling (to see him score runs). He showed good temperament and it was very important innings as the surface wasn’t easy to bat on,” Rathour said.

“That is the quality of his batting,” Rathour said. “He has got runs on seaming tracks in England. But if we talk about this particular innings, he was made to work hard for his runs. Normally, with Rohit when he scores his first few runs, he then pushes the score. But here he had to work hard,” he said.

Rathour went on the defensive when asked about KL Rahul’s form.

“I won’t be able to comment on that... But he (Rahul) has scored two hundreds in his last 10 Tests — one in England and other in South Africa and also has a couple of fifties.”

Written with PTI inputs