Watch: Marnus Labuschagne acknowledges inner Shubman Gill in a viral net session video

Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne stole the limelight in the net session ahead of the second Test against New Zealand. The two teams are locking horns with each other in the two-match Test series with the last match set to be played from Friday (8th March).

Australia won the first game by a massive margin and dominated New Zealand to go 1-0 up in the series. They now would be eager to seal the second game and complete the whitewash to bag important World Test Championship points under their belt.

Ahead of the second Test against New Zealand, Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne is making sure that he gives his everything and brings out his best for the team in the final match. The batter of late has been going through the lean patch in the longest format of the game and has bagged a series of low scores

On Wednesday (6th March), Marnus Labuschagne was seen giving his best in the nets and playing Australia coach Daniel Vettori with immense focus and concentration. However, one thing caught the attention of many as he played the cut shot off the former New Zealand player.

Marnus Labuschagne was heard saying “Oh Shubmaned him again.” The Australia batter acknowledged his inner version of the India batter, who is known for playing the cut shot to perfection. The video of the incident went viral on the internet and gained many reactions. Here’s the video:

Interesting to see & hear @marnus3cricket acknowledging his inner Shubman Gill while cutting balls off Dan Vettori in the nets this morning #NZvAus pic.twitter.com/gA8wHKxeUb

— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) March 6, 2024

Marnus Labuschagne didn’t have a great outing in the first Test against New Zealand. The right-hander managed just 1 run off 27 balls in the first innings. It was expected that he would set the stage on fire in the next innings but it wasn’t the case as he managed just 2 runs off 13 balls.

In the last three Tests, Marnus Labuschagne has looked clueless. The batter has mustered just 22 runs at an average of 4.40. He would be eager to change things in the next game. With bagging consistent failures, he has come under a lot of scrutiny.

Worrying sign for me about Marnus Labuschagne he’s so intense – Mark Waugh

With Marnus Labuschagne going out of form, former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh expressed his concerns. He said that the batter always thinks about cricket and not getting runs might suffocate him.

Mark Waugh further pointed out that he saw Marnus Labuschange doing shadow batting in the department store and the batter needs to get free of that to return to form. Speaking to Fox Cricket, he explained:

“But the worrying sign for me about Marnus is he’s so intense. He’s 24 hours a day — eats, sleeps and drinks cricket. And I wonder when you get in a bit of a rut, is that going to suffocate you? He was in there with his tracksuit on, he had a backpack on and he had his bat and he was shadow batting in the department store. So he needs to break free of that.”

The upcoming second Test against New Zealand will be the 50th Test for Marnus Labuschagne. The batter would want to make it special by returning to form. Currently, he has 4,000 runs at an average of 49.60 in 49 games.