In the India vs Australia match, there were moments when Australia threatened. One of these is the 82-run partnership between Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. During the opening partnership, Labuschagne got friendly with former India skipper Virat Kohli after Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj dismissed the two openers earlier in the day.
Labuschagne replied with a smile –
It happened during the seventh over of the innings when Labuschagne was beaten on Jadeja’s very first ball. The Australian batsman replied with a smile before Kohli, who was stationed at the slip cordon, suggested to him to shoulder his arms for such a delivery. Later, Labuschagne played a cover drive to hit a boundary and Kohli was all praises while watching the replays.
“Yeah, it is always good when Virat feels you played a good shot there. There are some shots that I have definitely learned from him,” Labuschagne was quoted as saying in an interview on Sen Cricket.
Labuschagne was Australia’s top scorer with his 133-ball 49 before being dismissed by Jadeja. The Aussies got a late half-century partnership between Handscomb and Alex Carey but the resistance was eventually broken by R Ashwin, who reached the milestone of 450 career wickets with the dismissal.
Labuschagne said –
“We’re here to win the series so we’re going to make sure we work as hard as possible and put in a special performance with the bat and fight to get back into the game..just like I thought he was going to do. His temperament as a person gave me a lot of confidence coming into this game. His skills are high, he has variations and angles. He’s got the craft. He looks like a special talent and he’s got a good Nice to see you doing it.”
