Mitchell Johnson On Labuschane Australia Future: Former Australian pace bowler Mitchell Johnson believes that out-of-form Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne should be replaced ahead of his side’s upcoming Pink Ball Test match against India in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The second of five Australia vs India Test matches will start on December 6 and will be played on the Adelaide Oval. The first game, played in Perth’s Optus Stadium, was a humiliating loss for the home side.
India won the toss and decided to bat first on a pacey track. The Men in Blue were dismissed on Day One. But then, a fiery spell by Jasprit Bumrah and the Indian bowling unit stripped the Aussies down to 59/7 before the end of the day’s play.
After taking a 46-run lead in the first inning, India then batted for almost two days, declaring on 487/6, and won the match by 295 runs within four days.
While the Australian batting failed as a whole in the Perth Test, one of the faces of the Kangaroo collapse was Marnus Labuschagne. Once hailed as Australia’s next red-ball great, the 30-year-old has been in poor form this year.
Marnus has scored only one 50 in the last five Test matches and no tons in the last nine. In his last five Tests, he has eight single-digit scores. In the six Tests he has played this year, he has managed to score 245 runs at an average of 24.5.
But it goes beyond his poor form. The way Labuschagne was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj in the first inning and Bumrah in the second, as if he was not a six-year veteran in Test cricket and was playing his first-class match. In the first inning specifically, he played 52 balls, scored two runs, and had no clue which way the ball was moving.
Mitchell Johnson On Labuschane Australia Future
Amidst all the criticism the Australian Cricket Team and Marnus Labuschagne are facing right now, former Aussie pace bowler Mitchell Johnson has chimed in with comments about the batter.
Johnson believes that after a poor run of form in Test cricket, Labuschagne should be removed from the playing XI for the Adelaide Test. In a column for The Nightly, he wrote,
“Marnus Labuschagne – after a lengthy poor run with the bat – should be replaced for the second Test in Adelaide. And that’s not for the sake of having someone pay the price for the thrashing in Perth.”
Johnson then went on to suggest that the star batter should play some games in the Sheffield Shield instead of looking clueless against Jasprit Bumrah.
“It would give him a chance to play some Sheffield Shield and club cricket away from the pressure of playing for your country. I feel he would benefit from that more than going out there trying to survive against Jasprit Bumrah and co,” he said.
The Australian Cricket Team has a fantastic record in day/night Pink Ball Test matches. Out of the 12 they have played at home, they have won 11. However, the Aussies lost their most recent Pink Ball Test against the West Indies earlier this year.
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