Marnus Labuschagne Ready To Open The Innings In David Warner's Absence

It would be harsh to rule out the role Marnus Labuschagne has played in Australia’s ODI series victory against India. Australia emerged victorious in the run-fest produced by the Sydney Cricket Ground in both the games as India lacked the ammo to surpass their totals of 374 and 389. Marnus Labuschagne, who scored 70 runs in the second, is ready to open the innings after David Warner’s injury.

David Warner, who has scored half-centuries in both the games to set a solid foundation for Australia, suffered a groin injury during the second ODI while fielding. With the Test series looming, the selectors decided to give him time to recover, adding D’arcy Short to the squad for the remaining white-ball fixtures. Marnus Labushcagne’s 70 off 61 balls that included only five boundaries was an underrated one as he held up one end considerably well to allow Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell to unleash the big shots.

Marnus Labuschagne conceded that David Warner has played a massive role in their series victory and did not feel good at losing him. At the same time, the 26-year old sees it as an opportunity for the fringe players to step up and be amongst the runs. Hence, if the management allows him to open the innings, Labuschagne would enjoy doing it.

“He’s been a massive part of us winning this series and it is not great that we’ve lost him but like anything, it provides an opportunity for someone else to step up in the top order and make runs. Certainly, if I got asked to open the batting, absolutely it’s an opportunity that I would enjoy doing. But we’ll have to wait and see,” Labuschagne said as quoted by Hindustan Times.

Marnus Labuschagne backs Joe Burns to find form in Test cricket:

With Will Pucovski receiving strong backing to replace Joe Burns at the top-order in Test cricket and Joe Burns enduring a lean run in Shield cricket, Marnus Labuschagne has backed the latter. The South African born cricketer underlined that Burns averages 40 in Test cricket alongside four centuries too. He admits that the Queensland opener has not been amongst the runs in the domestic circuit; however, Labuschagne highlighted how he blunted the new ball in the 2019-20 Test summer. Hence, the big scores are around the corner.

“Joe’s averaging 40 in test cricket, so he’s certainly established and he’s got four test hundreds. He’s a very good player. Although he hasn’t scored the runs in Shield cricket that he’d like, he got 99 against Pakistan in the first test last summer and he negotiated through that new ball period almost every time last summer, so he’s not really far away from a couple of really big scores,” the right-handed batsman added.

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