Marnus Labuschagne opens up regarding facing Ravichandran Ashwin in Test cricket, calls it a chess game

Marnus Labuschagne has been sensational over the last few years. With world-class performances in the recently concluded Ashes series, Labuschagne has climbed to the top of the world batting rankings in Test cricket and holds the number one position.

During India’s recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy exploits in Australia, the duels between Marnus Labuschagne and Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have been fascinating to witness. Ashwin had called him ‘a great thinker of the game’ in a recent interview with The Cricket Monthly besides also adding how he had picked up several cues regarding Labuschagne’s batting.

“He steps out, he hits the ball over cow corner for an offspinner, or he hits it over mid-off. It’s very rarely through long-on. And he doesn’t have a flat sweep, he has a lap sweep, like a paddle. All these shots have a trigger. And it’s very fine. If you don’t know or if you’ve not seen enough footage, you cannot pick these things up,” Ashwin had said.

Ashwin finished with 12 wickets across the three Tests that he had played during the most recent edition of the Border Gavaskar Trophy held in Australia. Ashwin has since gone on to become India’s third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket and is only five away from the legendary Kapil Dev’s tally.

Recalling his battles with Ashwin during the Border Gavaskar Trophy, Labuschagne lauded Ashwin and mentioned that he is great at assessing batsmen which makes facing him quite enjoyable. He also praised how Ashwin had smartly calculated and set up fields to prevent him from scoring runs.

“He has picked up some things I do when I play certain shots. That’s why I love these four-five match series because you cannot be satisfied with what you’ve got as a batter, otherwise you will be found out by quality bowlers. You’ve to keep adapting.

“What I loved most about Ashwin was the fields he had for me and how I was trying to move the field in my endeavour to score runs. Just the way both of us were able to chop and change in the middle of an engrossing passage. It almost felt like a chess game. He bowled beautifully in Melbourne… got a few early wickets with the leg slip,” said Labuschagne.

The 27-year-old also added that he hopes to prepare and adapt to conditions in the subcontinent on his next few tours before facing India on their home soil.

“Smith and I played him well in Sydney. We’ve got a few subcontinent tours before my next trip to India, and hopefully, I can challenge myself in those conditions. I have a few tricks up my sleeve!”