IND vs AUS | Playing Ashwin is going to be lovely game of chess, feels Marnus Labuschagne
Marnus Labuschagne, the world’s no. 1 Test batter, is excited to play against Ravichandran Ashwin in the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy, saying it will be a ‘lovely game of chess’ between him and India’s talismanic spinner. Ashwin dismissed Labuschagne twice in India’s 2020-21 series in Australia.
Australia will tour India for a four-match Test series, set to get underway on February 9. The first Test is scheduled at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, and the next three will be played in Delhi, Dharamsala, and Ahmedabad. The tour will be clinical for India’s qualification chances for the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Ahead of the series, Marnus Labuschagne, the No. 1 Test-ranked batter in the world, spoke about his preparations for the India tour. Labuschagne, who is currently representing Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League (BBL), mentioned that he started to ready himself for this tour long ago, and is now excited about executing everything on the field.
More importantly, the Aussie star is particularly looking forward to facing Ravichandran Ashwin, who had him twice during their last tour in India, back in 2020/21. Labuschagne still had batted beautifully against him, averaging 53.25 against the Indian star during that series.
“I’ve changed some of my game because of what I’ve heard about Ashwin and how he bowled to me,” Labuschagne said, as quoted by Sportstar. “It’s going to be a lovely game of chess, and I can’t wait for it. The preparation starts so far back. I’ve already thought about my plans, so now it’s just about executing.”