Former Australian spinnerย Steve O'Keefe believes Test debutant Todd Murphy can replace Nathan Lyon in the coming years.
Murphy made his Test debut for Australia in the first match against India on Thursday and became the 465th male Test player for the tourists. After his brilliant performance in first-class cricket, the off-spinner got picked in the XI alongside Nathan Lyon.
O'Keefe, a nine-Test representative himself, has backed Australia's newest turner to succeed their greatest ever off-spinner.
"He will be a superstar," Steve O'Keefe told ESPN.
"He has the ability to go back up the ball; he can bowl overspin, exactly whatย Nathan Lyonย does."
Murphy has had an intriguing record in First class cricket with 26 wickets under his belt in just six games, with an outstanding economy of 2.74 and an average of 25.
Lyonย gave the 22-year-old his Baggy Green before the game, marking the first time in 35 years thatย Australiaย selected two off-spinners.
O'Keefe is confident in Murphy's skills and mindset to play the game's longest format. The 38-year-old also predicted that Australiaย would be tempted to play two off-spinners in a test where Murphy would make his test debut.
"He has a lot of tricks to his armoury to bowl square seam, which is important over there [ Inย India], which is side spin, goes quicker through the air, and if it bites, it spins sharply," O'Keefe added.
"He has got great armoury skills and great confidence.
"I think his best ball is good enough to challenge any batsman in the world.
"I wouldn't be surprised at some stage that Australia plays two off-spinners in this series."
The young off-spinner got the taste of his first test wicket in his last over of the day, where he got KL Rahul out. Murphy finished with the bowling figures of 7-0-13-1 at the end of day one.
