Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne ducks to avoid a short ball by India’s captain Jasprit Bumrah on the first day of the first cricket test between Australia and India in Perth, Australia. (AP)
Former Australia Test captain Tim Paine says he won’t drop Marnus Labuschagne even if the Australian No 3 fails again in the Adelaide Test, which starts from Friday.
Marnus Labuschagne has looked awfully out-of-form and is averaging 13.66 in his last Test innings.
“I certainly would have (picked him for Adelaide) and I’d be backing him again next Test as well,” Paine said on SEN Breakfast.
“There are a few reasons why, one is he’s got some credits in the bank, that’s first and foremost. You don’t get to the averaging 48 in Test cricket, even after a horror run recently without (being a good player),” he added.
Paine explains why he would not expose another youngster in front of Jasprit Bumrah.
“Secondly, I’m not sure what the options are behind him at the moment, and if there are options they are young and I’m not sure I want to expose that to Jasprit Bumrah. That’s got to be in their thought process.
“You don’t want to throw Sam Konstas into this series against a guy of his quality at the moment. It could be a really bad way to start a Test career.
“Thirdly, I think it actually works in Marnus’ favour that this is a pink ball Test. He almost gets a bit of a free hit because batting can be extremely difficult and they’d be unlikely to drop someone after a pink ball Test.
“So, there’s a couple of things in his favour.”
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