Test cricket teams find it very difficult to defeat India in their own country, as no visiting team has managed to win a Test series in India since 2013. Home batters usually have the upper hand, with even the most renowned bowlers having difficulty bowling against them. Nevertheless, some newcomers have managed to cause India trouble in their own backyard.
The element of surprise seemed to be an advantage to the bowlers, resulting in a five-wicket haul on their first Test match against India. Todd Murphy is the most recent bowler to make such a remarkable accomplishment in Nagpur, having taken the wickets of KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, and KS Bharat in the initial innings. Murphy is now the sixth overseas player to have registered such an achievement in their first Test match against India in India.
Here is a record of the five individuals who accomplished this prior to Murphy.
Lance Klusener, South Africa
Lance Klusener made his international debut for South Africa in a Test match against India at Eden Gardens in 1996 and was instrumental in his team’s 329-run victory. During the fourth innings of the match, Klusener bowled 21.3 overs, taking 8 wickets with a final tally of 8/64, resulting in India being bowled out for 137 runs while attempting to score 467. The eight batsmen dismissed by Klusener were Nayan Mongia, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sunil Joshi, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, and Narendra Hirwani.
Jason Krejza, Australia
Jason Krejza’s international career may have been short-lived, yet he had a noteworthy beginning against India. It so happened that Krejza’s first match was in Nagpur. At the VCA Stadium, he bowled 43.5 overs, with results of 8/215. Among his eight wickets were Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, and Amit Mishra.
Bruce Taylor, New Zealand
Bruce Taylor accomplished an extraordinary accomplishment of making a century and taking a five-wicket bag on his introduction to Test cricket. He earned his initial cap against India in 1965 at Eden Gardens. In his first innings, Taylor took 5/86, with Farokh Engineer Chandu Borde, Bapu Nadkarni, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, and S Venkataraghavan among his five dismissals.
Yasir Arafat, Pakistan
Yasir Arafat is the only Asian featured on the list. He made his mark during his Test debut at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore in 2007 with figures of 5/161 after bowling 39 overs. He got five wickets, with Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Dinesh Karthik, and Harbhajan Singh being his victims. Though he only had two more Tests afterwards for Pakistan.
John Lever, England
John Lever, the former English left-arm bowler, is the only cricketer from England to have taken five wickets in his very first match in India. This occurred in Delhi in 1976. Lever’s figures of 7/46 led to an innings victory for the English side. These seven wickets included big names such as Sunil Gavaskar, Anshuman Gaekwad, Mohinder Amarnath, Gundappa Viswanath, S Venkataraghavan, Brijesh Patel, and Syed Kirmani.
