Marnus Labuschagne revealed how he managed to get under Ravichandran Ashwin’s skin during the Indore Test, through delaying counter tactics as soon as the bowler slipped into a shorter runup. It also irritated Rohit Sharma and umpire Joel Wilson had a word with him, he said a day before the start of the fourth Test at Ahmedabad.
“He turned to a short run and I wasn’t watching because I had the rhythm of his run-up, so my routine stays to that rhythm,” Labuschagne told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
“So I was like ‘I’m not facing up because I’m going to look down and then he’s going to bowl the ball’. I did it a few times, just pulled away. Then Joel came down and said ‘you have to face up when he’s ready’ and I said ‘happy to face up Joel, but he’s trying to bowl the ball before I’m ready’.”
Labuschagne, Australia’s leading run-maker in the series so far, was in pursuit of the 76 run target, batting with an amused Travis Head.
India’s Ravichandran Ashwin prepares to bowl during the third day of the second cricket test match between India and Australia in New Delhi, India, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
“It’s just the chess, the caginess, just trying to get you out of the rhythm of what he’s bowling,” Labuschagne told The Age. “I credit him because I could sense the momentum of the game was shifted or potentially gone, but he’s so cagey and so good at the small things.
“That’s why I’ve always got a smile on my face out there. I appreciate where he’s coming from. I understand, hence I’m not facing up, because I know what you’re trying to do. It’s great cricket and great theatre.”
It affected Ashwin, The Age wrote, given it was clear from the scoreboard as the next over, after requesting a change of ball, Ashwin started to miss his length full, allowing Head to start hammering the boundaries that brought the match to a swift conclusion.
It’s been a bunch of learnings for the Aussies, Labuschagne told The Age – “the difference between knowing what you’re going to face and actually the reality of playing on it and what it does to you as a player,” he said. “As I’ve played more I’ve realised I can trust my defence more, where usually when the wickets are like that you want to play more shots.
“It’s hard to gain that without knowledge and without failure. I look back now and I think ‘geez I threw away a hundred in Nagpur first day’. You look back on the series and you’re like geez that was one of the best wickets we’ve played on so far and I felt good but I just got away from my plan.”
Labuschagne had gone lbw to Ashwin in Delhi in the first innings, and was bowled three times (including a no-ball) by Ravindra Jadeja when caught on the back foot by deliveries that slid through low, The Age wrote.
Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin celebrating after picking up a wicket against Australia in the first Test in Nagpur. (FILE)
“We talk a lot about putting ego away and ensuring you don’t get beaten on the inside of the bat,” Labuschagne said. “But I feel like so far this series I haven’t got beaten on the inside of the bat, I’ve got beaten under the bat. The one in Delhi I tried to play a bit square, ” he explained.
“Naturally you’re trying to score. So I corrected the way I played it, but then the one in the third Test I wasn’t looking to score square and it still got under. But it definitely makes me think. I looked at how ‘Uzzy’ [Usman Khawaja] played similar balls like that.
“Uzzy doesn’t get as big a stride forward, he plays a lot of balls off the back foot and gets the bat quite low, whereas I get a long way forward and sometimes get too far back, instead of getting low and staying in the middle. Steve does that well with the one that shoots, he doesn’t necessarily shift all the way back.”
Playing well was the best way to silence the crowd, he reckoned. “It’s a nice feeling when you almost wind the crowd down,” he said. “The crowd dictates to you when the game is shifting towards you. It’s nice to hear when the crowd goes dead silent and you can sense that you’re on top,” he told The Age.
