AUS vs PAK | Labuschagne is unbelievable find for Australian cricket, opines Ricky Ponting

Australia have put up a dominating batting performance to post a total of 580 after restricting Pakistan to 240 in their first innings. The flamboyant batting display of the Kangaroos was led by the top order, David Warner (154), Joe Burns (91) and Marnus Labuschagne (185), which accounted for more than 70% of their runs, 436 of 580 to be exact.

Australia came into the series on the back of a nightmare of a display by the top order in the Ashes but with only one innings into the home season, the Aussies have shown their prowess. At one stage in the Australian innings, the scoreboard stood at 351 for 1. While Warner has come a long way to shove the nightmare named Stuart Broad, Burns, who missed out on a well-deserved century, proved his selection wrong as Labuschagne continued his Ashes run to virtually seal the No.3 spot in the side.

Ponting was delighted by the brilliant strokeplay of the top order as his speculation of a right hand-left hand combination proving deadly came true. Ponting heaped the youngsters, Burns and Labuschagne, with praise as he expressed his joy over finally getting a potent opening pair after trying 11 of those.

"I know what Justin's referring to … stability is what we're looking for at the top of the order. They've had 11 opening combinations in the last 29 Test matches, so it's something they've been searching for. You can pencil Joe (Burns) in for a couple of years now and give him a good run at it. He looked every bit a Test match player yesterday and Marnus has looked every bit a Test player in the last 12 months," Ponting told Cricket.com.au.

"It's amazing how quickly things can change … coming into this game there was a bit of negativity around our batting, probably on the back of (the Australia A batting collapse in that) happened in the tour game in Perth as well. But one innings into the summer and we're already talking about how a lot of those positions can be locked away."

Ponting is in awe over the way 25-year-old Labuschagne, who missed out on a well-deserved double century, grabbed his opportunity when he came into the side in Lords as a concussion substitute and hasn’t put a foot wrong since then. Ponting pointed out his fine technique as the key to success for him as he believes that Labuschagne is in for a long stay in the side.

"He's been an unbelievable find for Australian cricket. Coming in when he did in the middle of the Ashes as a concussion sub, and then playing as well as he did over there in tough conditions, he just looks a really well-organised Test match player. His technique has stood up to everything we've seen so far – he plays fast bowling well, he looks a very good player of spin bowling. It was an awesome innings today, I'm sure he'll remember that for the rest of his life."