David Warner ‘not convinced’ with Labuschagne despite the right-hander scoring 64 at Adelaide

Former Australian Test opener David Warner is not convinced that Marnus Labuschagne has returned to his absolute best despite the right-hander scoring a decent knock of 64 runs in the first innings of the second pink-ball Test against India at Adelaide Oval, which the hosts won convincingly by 10 wickets.

Warner reckons Indian bowlers were not sharp enough and he also thinks that conditions were batting friendly. Labuschagne took his time in the early phase and did well on the opening day to see out the new ball with opener Nathan McSweeney.

Labuschagne scored 64 runs off 126 balls with the help of nine fours and added a crucial alliance of 67 runs with Nathan McSweeney and added 65 runs with Travis Head.

“I’m still not convinced about Marnus…I don’t think that was anywhere near what we know he’s capable of…He might have got a couple out of the middle, got a couple of freebies, batted well that night to get through, but they bowled poorly. So from that perspective, he had the best conditions to come out and bat in. But he got out the same way he always does get out when he gets over 50, hits it straight to gully. Steve of late, I think a lot of teams have been bowling at his pads and down leg side. So I think from that perspective they’re trying to shut his scoring down quite a bit,” Warner said speaking to the Herald.

“You see he’s trying to tinker with fixing certain things with Bumrah. His feet weren’t moving across this time. We know what Steve’s like, one knock and then he’s there. But as we know, the best form of currency is runs so you’ve just got to try your best to churn them out. Uz, exactly the same. He’s had a great 12 months before. But then, of late, he hasn’t scored as many runs as he would have liked, but same thing, you’ve just got to go out there and still present the same attitude, the same at training, keep working hard,” he added

The third Test match between India and Australia will be played at the Gabba, Brisbane from December 14.