Last Update: February 08, 2023, 11:18 IST
Michael Clarke celebrates his century in the 2004–05 series in Bengaluru.
One of the key batsmen in the Australian middle order, Marnus Labuschagne is expected to do what Michael Clarke did in India in 2004-05. Clarke was the top scorer in the series where the Indian batsmen struggled in familiar conditions.
Though he made his Test debut in 2018, Marnus Labuschagne is yet to play a Test match in India. Although they toured the country in January 2020 for a three-match ODI series, playing the longer form game in the subcontinent is a completely different challenge. Gearing up for a chess battle with Ravichandran Ashwin, the 28-year-old cricketer revealed his early memories of this fascinating series titled Border Gavaskar Trophy in an exclusive event with Cricbuzz.
He said that he had seen the 2004-05 Test series in which Australia had beaten India 2-1, adding that he was inspired by the way Michael Clarke batted in the series.
Clarke made his debut in the Bangalore Test match and scored a century. He also scored a brilliant 91 in Nagpur as Australia defeated India to take the series 2–0.
“I remember watching Michael Clarke in 2004, played beautifully. The wicket probably didn’t spin much in the beginning and it did spin towards the back end of the game when it picked up pace. Harbhajan [Singh] Bowled a lot to the left-handers over the wicket and tried to spin the ball. This is probably Plan Z for many off-spinners.
“Nowadays, people don’t do that much. Muralitharan used to do that a lot. Obviously he had the second one and Harbhajan also had it. I think that’s why he did it. Now left-handed batsmen have to slide, slip and slide around the wicket. And then there is the spin attack. The game has changed. And I feel spinners sometimes bowl a bit too fast. I shouldn’t generalise. It’s just a matter of feel. The game is a different venue. Teams are a bit more defensive now. You have attacking fielders but everyone else is out.
“There were times when it was all attack, attack, attack. So you can bowl well, but teams still got 330 because they had the fielding and were able to score quickly.
Labuschagne, who made his Test debut against Pakistan in Dubai, played 33 Tests for Australia and scored over 3,000 runs, including ten centuries. He is known to be a master of spin, but facing the likes of Ashwin and Jadeja in subcontinent conditions will be a completely different challenge.
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