Australia’s newest spin sensation Todd Murphy has helped keep the tourists alive in the first Test but India remain in full control in Nagpur after building a 144-run lead.

After just seven first-class games, Murphy became the 35th Australian to take a five-wicket haul on Test debut after knocking over the key pillars of India’s star-studded batting line-up.

India went to stumps on day two at 7-321, well ahead of Australia’s modest total of 177, but the contest would be already over if the bespectacled Murphy (5-82) had not weaved his magic.

Australia would need to pull off one of the all-time great comebacks to win from here but at least they have a slight pulse despite Steve Smith dropping two genuine chances on Friday.

India opener Rohit Sharma blasted a masterful 120, his first Test century as captain, in the city of his birth to the delight of his home crowd.

But until star allrounder Ravi Jadeja (66no) came to the crease, Australia had been able to contain the bulk of the damage off Sharma’s bat.

Jadeja and Axar Patel (52no) will resume on Saturday after putting on a vital 81-run partnership.

Scalp after scalp

The hosts appeared to be racing towards building an unassailable lead when they began on Friday at 1-77, but Murphy struck with the first four wickets of India’s innings.

The 22-year-old dismissed nightwatchman Ravichandran Ashwin and prolific No.3 Cheteshwar Pujara before lunch, having removed KL Rahul late on day one.

Murphy – and his family, who flew over to India after departing the Victorian-NSW border three days ago – will never forget his first ball after lunch.

The Victorian, who was picked with a first-class average of 25.20, dismissed Virat Kohli, India’s former captain and one of the finest batters of all-time.

Wicketkeeper Alex Carey hung on to a tough chance after fumbling the ball and Kohli was gone for just 12.

Murphy’s fifth wicket came after an unconvincing DRS referral but it was good enough to dismiss India wicketkeeper Srikar Bharat.

The five-wicket club

His heroics meant all four of Australia’s bowlers in this match – the others are Pat Cummins, Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon – have taken a five-wicket haul on Test debut.

Murphy is the first Australian to bring up that milestone since Boland’s famous 6-7 against England at the MCG in 2021.

It was hard not to draw comparisons between Murphy’s test debut and that of Lyon back in 2011 when the senior spinner took 5-34 in Australia’s victory against Sri Lanka in Galle.

Lyon (1-98) has 461 Test wickets to his credit but he was comfortably out-bowled by Murphy, who is 13 years his junior.

Despite Murphy’s heroics, the 34-year-old Jadeja has threatened to win the match for India on his own.

In his first Test since July after undergoing knee surgery, Jadeja backed up his 5-47 with the ball by building vital partnerships with Sharma and Patel and notched up the 18th half-century of his career.

But the 34-year-old received two slices of luck when umpire’s calls off the bowling of Murphy and Cummins prevented him from losing his wicket.

-AAP