Labuschagne made 49 runs in his first Test innings in India.
The first Test of the highly awaited four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series 2023 between India and Australia got underway at Nagpur’s VCA Stadium in Jamtha on February 9. Australia captain Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bat first.
Suryakumar Yadav and KS Bharat made their Test debuts for India, while Todd Murphy made his Australia Test debut as well.
Mohammad Shami got David Warner and Mohammed Siraj got Usman Khawaja for 1 run each in the first three overs of the innings. Then Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne came together and looked comfortable on a surface that had a lot for spinners.
Labuschagne looked amazingly comfy for someone playing their first Test innings in India and made 49 runs before being stumped by KS Bharat off Ravindra Jadeja.
Before that R Ashwin came to bowl to Labuschagne and immediately one delivery was pitched full but as Labuschagne tried to defend it, the ball rocketed and struck him high on the batter's left thigh.
This led to an interesting exchange between Ashwin and Labuschagne as the Indian off-spinner gestured to the batter almost warning him about the spin on offer. Ashwin looked at keeper Bharat and rotated his finger to indicate the amount of spin on offer, indirectly intimidating the batter.
Labuschagne had some words for Ashwin as well and all of this was captured on the camera.
Check it out here: