‘…do it the way Ravi Ashwin can’: Australian spinner prepares to challenge India with Ashwin's weapon in WTC final

We are done with the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the focus now shifts to the World Test Championship (WTC), where India meets Australia. The much-anticipated match starts from June 7 at The Oval and India, who missed out on winning the championship back in 2021, will finally to get their hands on the beautiful mace.

India have been the dominant side between the two in the recent years and have won the last four Test series. Last time when the two met, the contests were dominated by the tweakers as India won 2-1, but we did see a couple of newcomers from the Australian camp produce a good fight.

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One among them was Todd Murphy, who made his debut in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier this year. Murphy played all the four Tests and scalped 14 wickets at an average of 25.21.

Murphy did manage to trouble the Indian batters in spin friendly conditions but he is keen to add R Ashwin's ‘carrom ball’ to his repertoire.

"I am still working on that but I am still a long way off being able to do it the way Ravi Ashwin can," Murphy told AAP.

"It is simple in a way, and yet so difficult. It is just about being confident that you can execute it. I'd love to be able to add that myself one day. If you have a delivery that goes the other way it just poses different challenges for the batsmen.

"You are always looking at ways to tinker and add things to your kitbag but in Test cricket you have to make sure your fundamentals are really good and your stock ball is in as good a position as you can," he added.

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Murphy is making use of video technology to pick up the art of carrom-ball and has been keenly observing his point of release.

"That is the best part of analysis now that you have access to that the whole time," said Murphy.

"I was really interested in watching that sort of stuff and get a close-up look of his hand and wrist position, just to see how each ball was coming out and if it was behaving differently.

“In those conditions his skillsets are as good as anyone and it was amazing to just watch the subtle variations he is able to implement in sequencing throughout his overs.”