Marnus Labuschagne wants Australian batsmen to show ‘intent’ going into Sydney Test against India

Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne wants his team to change their approach while facing the Indian bowlers in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy. In the four-match Test series, which is currently level at 1-1, the Aussie batters have looked subdued against a fiery Indian bowling attack. Their premier batsman Steve Smith hasn’t crossed the single-digit score yet.

Labuschagne, who is Australia’s leading run-scorer of the series, lauded the Indian attack for being disciplined. The youngster reckons that playing too many dot balls and not going at a decent run-rate allowed the Indian bowlers to dictate terms to them.

They have certainly come in with plans with straight fields, says Marnus Labuschagne

“I think they have been very disciplined in their bowling and their plans with both spin and pace. I think they have really held that straight line. That made us face a lot of balls, striking at about two runs an over. It is for us to make sure that there are going to be small opportunities for us to showing intent and attacking them,” Labuschagne was quoted as saying in mid-day.

Labuschagne talked about how the Indians have planned their field placements, restricting the Aussie batters from scoring a whole lot of runs. Marnus understands the importance of showing discipline in order for Australia to stage a comeback.

“They have certainly come in with plans with straight fields — making sure they are not leaving stumps – and also having heavy a leg-side field which obviously slows your scoring rate down… they are always keeping those catchers in the game, so we have to come up with two things — we need to be very disciplined and have to come up with ways to put them under pressure,” he added.

In the two Tests in Adelaide and Melbourne, Labuschagne has scored 129 runs at an average of 41.61. Though he hasn’t scored a half-century yet, with scores of 48 and 47, the 26-year-old has shown a great amount of resilience.

After winning the Adelaide Test, Australia squandered the early advantage, losing the MCG Test by eight wickets. The third and penultimate Test gets underway on January 7 at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground.