3rd ODI: Marnus Labuschagne Would Love to Open For Australia in Absence of David Warner | Earth Indian

India vs Australia 3rd ODI: Marnus Labuschagne would enjoy opening the innings in limited-overs cricket for Australia should he be presented with the chance in the absence of David Warner who has been ruled out of remaining third ODI and the upcoming three T20I series against India.

Warner suffered a groin injury while fielding during the second ODI on Sunday before hobbling off the field.

“Certainly, if I got asked to open the batting absolutely,” Labuschagne said when asked if he would be ready to bat at the top.  “It’s an opportunity that I would enjoy taking. We’ll wait and see how our team shapes up for the next game and see the balance of the side, but yeah, I would love doing it.”

“My role at No.4 is just to read the situation of the game and play my role accordingly,” he added.

Labuschagne scored 70 off 61 during the second ODI as Australia piled on a mammoth 389 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in reply to which India managed 338/9.

Labuschagne will be one of the batsmen to look out for in the upcoming four-match Test series against India starting next month. And the rising batting star feels that his team will have a slight advantage over their opponents as they have played a fair amount of red-ball cricket.

Indian cricketers did play in the IPL in September-October but there last red-ball match was in February during the New Zealand tour.

“It definitely helps to have a few games under your belt just to get the pace and the timing of the game from T20s to one-dayers to four-day cricket,” Labuschagne said.

“But a lot of these (Indian) players we’re talking about, they’ve been doing it for a long time, they’re not new to the changes of format. I’d be surprised if they didn’t shift back into gear very quickly. I will say that it’s a slight advantage, four out of our top six have been playing Shield cricket and got that rhythm as a batting group,” he added.

 

By Shivam Urkude || Earth Indian