Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Parthiv Patel lauded Australia’s batting approach after the visitors took advantage on the opening day’s play of the ongoing third Test match against India at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore.
After bundling out the home team at 109, Australia ended the day’s play strongly at 156-4, leading by 47 runs. The tourists lost the early wicket of Travis Head but Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne were able to rotate the strike at regular intervals.
Labuschagne had the rub of the green on his side on two occasions as he was dismissed on a no-ball by Ravindra Jadeja and then Rohit Sharma didn’t review when he was plumbed in front of the bowling off Ravichandran Ashwin. However, Khawaja and Labuschagne batted with great maturity and trusted their defence on a difficult pitch.
The left and right-hand batting combination added 96 runs for the second wicket. Khawaja scored a fine knock of 60 runs whereas Labuschagne scored 31 runs.
“Marnus Labuschagne did get a lifeline but the approach with which he played showed surety within his game. He was playing on the back foot and coming on the front foot when he was completely sure. He did not play against the spin, which is a big advantage when playing on a turning wicket,” said Patel on Cricbuzz.
Meanwhile, as India could only post 109 runs on the board, Rohit Sharma had to be defensive with his field placements as he had got fielders in the deep.
“If one wicket falls, the other could tumble along as well. We saw this earlier as well, when Travis Head got out, Labuschagne got bowled soon after, however it was given as a no-ball. When it comes to the field setup, these are usually the field placements used since stopping boundaries is very important. Australia also used a similar field setup,” Patel added.
Former Gujarat skipper Patel lauded the Australian batting for their approach. Australian batters were more compact and applied themselves on the pitch.
“We have to praise the Australian batters for their approach, they played with soft hands and did not try to hit the ball hard. They were trying to time the shot and play in the gaps. Even though the Indian spinners are very skilled both Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja have tackled spin very well,” said Patel.
