Steve Smith praises Marnus Labuschagne after his first ODI innings

steve smith and marnus labuschagne

Marnus Labuschagne, the Australia batsman who came in the limelight for his formidable form, has begun the India series with a bang. He said that he wanted to be an all-format player for Australia. However, his knock impressed his teammate Steve Smith, who shared that he was impressed by his first innings in ODI cricket in Rajkot. Labuschagne “looked right at home” in his first ODI innings where he scored 46 from 47 balls in Rajkot and also added 96 runs for the third wicket in 15.4 overs.

“I thought Marnus played really well in his first bat in one-day international cricket,” Smith was quoted as saying by Cricket.com.au. “He was really busy, we were going at a reasonable rate, we were going at around six an over there for a while.”

“The way Marnus played in his first (innings), to have the courage to hit one over mid-off off Kuldeep (Yadav) really early on, that just shows he’s got something about him. We know he’s in terrific form, he’s been batting beautifully, but transferring that into one-day cricket now is another thing,” he shared.

Steve Smith
Steve Smith

“I thought he looked exceptionally good tonight. He hit the gaps hard, ran hard between the wickets and played some nice shots. The one-off Jadeja was a beautiful shot. He looked right at home. And there’s no reason why the three-four-five (batting order) can’t stay as it is,” Smith added.

Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne had steadied the ship of Australia after David Warner (15) and Aaron Finch (33)  fell early. However, they both smashed unbeaten centuries in the opening match and took the team to the finish line.

But Australia lost Alex Carey and then Steve Smith and Ashton Turner in quick successions that derailed them in the chase of 341 runs. The loss was Australia’s first of the summer as well. The final, as well as the decider, will take place on January 19 in Bengaluru.