Marnus Labuschagne aspires to be like Smith, Kohli, and Williamson

Australian middle-order batsman Marnus Labuschagne has been a force to be reckoned with in recent times. The cricketer scored 896 runs this summer in 8 innings against Pakistan and Australia. By giving such superlative performances and back-to-back centuries against Pakistan, the Aussie batter has been picked up for the upcoming ODI series against India.

The 25-year-old player feels that the series against the Men In Blue will be really crucial for him to prove his consistency across all the formats like Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root. This tour would be really important to see if Marnus will don the colored outfit in the future or not.

Talking about the series, he said I look up to guys like Kohli, Smith, Williamson, and Root in the game and the way they have been dominating the game across all the formats is something he really admires. 

You look at the guys I look up to and aspire to — Steve Smith, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Joe Root. They’ve been doing it for a very long time, five, six years they’ve been consistent, not just in one format, but two or more formats,” Labuschagne said.

Steve Smith Photo

Born in South Africa, the right-hand batsman has been included in Australia’s ODI squad that landed in the country last night.

Speaking about his positive approach towards the game, the cricketer believes that he would consider himself a good batsman if he can continue his amazing run in future games too and his sole purpose is to play for Australia in all the possible formats, including T20Is.

I have had some success this summer but the real challenge for me is to be more consistent going on and being able to keep putting continued performances on the board. If I can continue to do that, then that’s obviously going to be the challenge for me,” Labuschagne said.

He concluded by saying that the most challenging thing about playing in India would be to tackle spinners and if he is able to tackle it properly then he is sure that the upcoming series would be really fruitful for him.

“A big part of playing in India is how you play spin, so for me being clear with my plans about how I play spin and then just trusting the processes I have,” added Labuschagne.

The first game of the three-match ODI series will take place on January 14 in Mumbai while the second ODI will be played in Rajkot on January 17. Bengaluru will host the third and final game on January 19.

India Squad:

Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Lokesh Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Shreyas Iyer, Navdeep Saini, Rishabh Pant, and Shivam Dube.

 Australia Squad:

Aaron Finch (c), David Warner, Steven Smith, Josh Hazlewood, Kane Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Ashton Turner, Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa, Alex Carey (wk), Marnus Labuschagne, and D Arcy Short.