5 visiting bowlers who took 5-wicket haul on their Test Debut vs India
India are among the strongest teams at home in Test cricket. It is quite challenging for any team to beat India on Indian soil. Since 2013, no visiting team have been able to win a Test series in India.
Bowlers generally find it difficult to trouble Indian batters. Even the experienced names have had a tough time bowling against Men in Blue. However, there have been a few bowlers who have troubled Team India at home on their debut.
Perhaps the unpredictability factor worked in the favor of those bowlers, but they ended up taking a five-wicket haul on debut against India.
Australia's Todd Murphy is the latest player to achieve the feat. Playing his career's first Test in Nagpur, Murphy accounted for the wickets of KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli and KS Bharat to complete a five-wicket haul in the first innings.
Murphy became the sixth visiting bowler to take a five-wicket haul on their Test debut against India in India.
Here's a list of the five players who did so before Murphy.
#1 Jason Krejza, Australia
Former Australian off-spinner Jason Krejza did not have a long international career, but he made a memorable debut against India. Incidentally, even Krejza played his debut game in Nagpur.
Back in 2008, Krejza bowled a spell of 43.5 overs at the VCA Stadium and returned with figures of 8/215. His eight victims were Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra.
#2 Lance Klusener, South Africa
Former South African all-rounder Lance Klusener made his debut against India at Eden Gardens in 1996. Klusener helped South Africa win that Test by 329 runs. He scalped eight wickets in the fourth innings as India were bowled out for 137 runs in a chase of 467.
Klusener bowled 21.3 overs and ended with figures of 8/64. The eight batters who lost their wickets to Klusener were Nayan Mongia, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sunil Joshi, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Narendra Hirwani.
#3 John Lever, England
Former England left-arm pacer John Lever is the only player from his country to have taken a five-wicket haul on debut in India. He achieved the feat back in 1976 in Delhi.
Lever's spell of 7/46 guided England to an innings win. His seven wickets were Sunil Gavaskar, Anshuman Gaekwad, Mohinder Amarnath, Gundappa Viswanath, S Venkataraghavan, Brijesh Patel and Syed Kirmani.
#4 Bruce Taylor, New Zealand
Bruce Taylor achieved the rare feat of scoring a hundred and taking a five-wicket haul on debut. He received his maiden cap against India in 1965 at the Eden Gardens.
Taylor bowled a spell of 5/86 in the first innings, with his five victims being Farokh Engineer, Chandu Borde, Bapu Nadkarni, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and S Venkataraghavan.
#5 Yasir Arafat, Pakistan
Yasir Arafat is the only Asian on the list. The former Pakistan fast bowler made his debut at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, in 2007. Arafat bowled 39 overs in the first innings and returned with figures of 5/161.
Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Dinesh Karthik and Harbhajan Singh were his five victims. Arafat played only two more Tests for Pakistan.