Marnus Labuschagne was seen keeping wickets at the Australian team’s net session as they and India will now move to Delhi for the second Test after the hosts thumped the visitors by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test in Nagpur.
This Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 series will see a riveting contest in Delhi in the Arun Jaitley Stadium, which will begin on February 17, and has a pitch that usually turns and keeps low as well. Australia will be up for another spin challenge and it remains to be seen which combination of players they will go with.
Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne were the only batters who looked a bit comfortable against the Indian spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Axar Patel, while Alex Carey did well-playing sweeps and reverse sweeps, but fell to the same shot as well.
Meanwhile, Cricbuzz’s Bharat Sundaresan shared some images from Australia’s training camp which Marnus Labuschagne donning the wicketkeeping gloves. Labuschagne in his short career has become the pillar of Australia’s batting lineup for quite some time now and even bowled leg-spin in Nagpur. Test.
It was only a matter of time before @marnus3cricket tried his hand at keeping wickets. And he’s as excitable as you’d expect him to be behind the stumps #IndvAus pic.twitter.com/A3Mfj5ODCu
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) February 13, 2023
Delhi To See A Riveting Contest Between Australia And India
Not many teams have made a comeback in India after losing the opening Test match except England who won the Test series by 2-1 in 2012.
Australia might go in for some changes as they flew in off-spinner Matthew Kuhnemann and will also hope that all-rounder Cameron Green and pacer Mitchell Starc get fit enough to feature in this important second Test.
This means the visitors might make huge changes in their playing combination as opener David Warner is under pressure to score runs after his 1 and 10 in the first Test in Nagpur and the way he got out to Mohammad Shami in the first innings.
On the other hand, Axar Patel with his 84 has made sure he remains part of the Indian XI for the second Test, meaning Kuldeep Yadav will have to wait out for his chance. Indian middle order could do much better with all eyes on Virat Kohli who will play on his home ground.