Posted by After yet again failing with the bat, Virat Kohli dropped Marnus Labuschagne second ball. Oh how Australia’s number three made him pay.
Kohli’s aspiration to bat like John Crawley grows ever larger. Today he made five (two singles and a three, for what it’s worth) before playing a tentative, back foot, angled-bat, defensive prod/withdrawal to Josh Hazlewood.
Some say Kohli’s lost his edge, but as far as we can make out, he’s actually using it more frequently than ever before.
Kohli wasn’t the only one to struggle though and India were soon all out for a pretty miserable 150. Enter Jasprit Bumrah and then not too long after that – directly as a consequence of his entry – enter Marnus Labuschagne too…
“I think the way we play, we’re at our best when we’re playing the long game,” said Labuschagne earlier in the week. “We understand that getting them back for their second and third spells, putting them under pressure and letting them come to us and us putting pressure back on them through overs in the field and time in the game – especially over a five-Test series – that’s really important.”
Thus far, you’d have to say ‘mission failed’. Never mind second and third spells, one of India’s seamers is yet to begin his first.
Facing his second ball (which is further than Steve Smith got), Labuschagne edged to Kohli, who got the wrong parts of his hands to it and dropped it.
Not that his team-mates noticed.
Oh how Labuschagne made Kohli – and all of us – suffer for that miss.
The innings lasted for 95 minutes – a borderline colossal effort in the context of this first day – during which Labuschagne scored all of two runs. He pulled his 24th delivery for one and then added his second and final run about an hour later when he inexplicably decided to work a short one to long leg rather than leaving it alone.
Labuschagne certainly has form in this area, but to give him his due, he arguably only had two options when facing Jasprit Bumrah bowling like he was:
- Bat for 95 minutes without troubling the scorers
- Depart the field of play immediately without troubling the scorers
Labuschagne will think he made the right choice, but it didn’t look much fun.
He then took the wholly unnecessary option of losing his wicket to a bowler who wasn’t Jasprit Bumrah. No idea what that was all about.
Similar deliveries:
‘Enough’ runs from Virat Kohli for India, Jasprit Bumrah the ventriloquist, South Africa’s theoretical snowball + more from the T20 World Cup final
Innings of the day: Marnus Labuschagne nrrdling 46 off 74 balls
The two very obvious highlights from Pakistan v Australia in Abu Dhabi
Did you see… Marnus Labuschagne score a run?
Savage.
NOW he’s lost his edge.
Cox out.
Hey everyone, I said ‘Cox out!’
WTF is going on in Perth… Still, Labuschagne got 50% more runs in much less time this innings. Good to see him improving.
Meanwhile, although England may be WTC mid table, having lost to India and drawn with NZ and Australia… If this winter we beat NZ who beat India who are beating Australia, does this mean England is the best in the world?
You’d have to check The Alternative Test World Championship.
https://www.kingcricket.co.uk/but-what-about-the-alternative-test-cricket-world-championship-who-holds-that-title/2023/08/08/
The answer to Tim’s question is yes.
Thanks for that link. I see from the spreadsheet that Sam is right. Not that I ever doubted it, seeing as it was the answer I wanted anyway.
Title bout begins Wednesday!
This paragraph casually thrown into cricinfo’s WI/BD Test live text is a cracker:
By the way, CWI has said that yesterday’s Super50 final ended with no winner announced because both teams (Barbados and Jamaica) forfeited the game. It was a rain-hit day but the umpires had announced a start time for a shortened game. According to CWI’s release, despite assurances from the umpires about the ground being fit for play, neither captain turned up for the toss! The release also said “CWI will review tournament regulations in light of the unprecedented situation of a double forfeit.”
I thought the situation with the domestic 50 over competition in England had reached a previously unthinkable low, but at least 22 cricket players still turn up and play a final.