I Don't Think He Is Unknown Anymore: KL Rahul On Marnus Labuschagne

Unlike the tour in 2018/19, Team India are going to face a far strong Australian side. India had defeated Australia in the 2018/19 Test series to register a historic triumph on the Australian soil. The reigning Border-Gavaskar champions will be keen to retain the prestigious trophy but they will have to be at their absolute best for the same.

Australia were without their batting stalwarts David Warner and Steve Smith for that series and their batsmen had failed to do well. Both the players missed the series because of the ban imposed on them for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal of 2018.

Both Smith and Warner returned to action last year and will be looking to help their side regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. What makes Australia more stronger is the emergence of Marnus Labuschagne. The right-handed batsman has not looked back since being recalled to Australia’s playing eleven as a concussion substitute during the last Ashes.

He has played 14 Tests for Australia while scoring 1459 runs at an impressive average of 63.43. Labuschagne ended 2019 as the highest run-getter in Tests with 1,104 runs at an average of 64.94.

KL Rahul on Marnus Labuschagne:

Marnus Labuschagne would be one of Australia’s main weapons in the series and could dent India’s hopes of winning another Test series Down Under. But it looks like Team India is not too much worried about him. Speaking ahead of the ODI series, India star KL Rahul refused to call him an unknown entity.

“I don’t think he is unknown anymore. He is in the top 5 and he has been getting a lot of runs in the last 12-15 months or before the COVID in the games that he played. He has been really consistent for his side.

“We have watched how Marnus played and fingers crossed hopefully, he won’t score that many runs against us. We will have a plan set, we have a top quality bowling attack so it will be a good challenge for him and our bowlers as well,” KL Rahul was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

The right-handed batsman soon shifted the focus towards himself. Rahul hasn’t played 50-over cricket regularly for India save for the past one year and is happy that he is in a situation where he has been in good form as far as white-ball cricket is concerned.

“I have never got a long run like this. So yeah, it feels good that I am contributing to team’s win and playing my role pretty well. Happy that I can put up consistent performances,” said KL Rahul.

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