Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne have failed to perform to the level they are expected to so far and Australia team’s inability to hold the ground during this rough patch has further hit them. Smith has not crossed single-digit scores in four innings, getting out for 1, 0 and 8 and remaining on 1*. Labuschagne, on the other side, hasn’t been able to convert his beginnings into big knocks, and although he has gotten scores of 28, 47 and 48, he has scored only 129 runs in 2 Tests.
Australia assistant coach Andrew McDonald believes that form of Smith and Labuschagne in the ongoing Test series against India will not be a major concern for the team. McDonald stated that the two batsmen will eventually find a way to counter India in the remainder of the series.
“I wouldn’t be too quick to judge Steve Smith in the middle. Yeah, he hasn’t got going yet in this series. In the first four balls, he faced in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test, he looked pretty solid, has looked good at the nets too. and Marnus too,” McDonald said.
“The question for me at the moment is the tactical way India have prepared and have been able to control those two players especially with a sort of leg-side theory so to speak. So, I suppose those two players will have to come out with a better method.”
R Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah have caused much trouble for the two batsmen in the ongoing series. McDonald acknowledged that India have their plans mapped out against Smith and Labuschagne but still showed trust in the two batsmen to move over the lean patch and get back to the business.
“I don’t think it has to do anything technically. They are technically in a good space but it is the method to score runs and how they are going to combat these tactics from India bowlers and captains, that has been discussed in our conversation,” McDonald further said.
