Pictures: Marnus Labuschagne keeps wickets during Australia's practice sessions ahead of second Test against India
Number one-ranked Test batter and Australia's number three Marnus Labuschagne tried his hand at wicketkeeping during a practice session at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Monday ahead of the second Test against India. The right-handed batter kept wickets, with Travis Head batting as his inclusion looms for the upcoming Delhi Test.
Pictures of the same emerged on Twitter, posted by journalist Bharat Sundaresan as the tourists were gearing up to bounce back from the drubbing in Nagpur. The visitors suffered a humiliating innings loss after twin batting collapses, with Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin exposing their weaknesses against spin.
It was only a matter of time before @marnus3cricket tried his hand at keeping wickets. And he’s as excitable as you’d expect him to be behind the stumps #IndvAus https://t.co/A3Mfj5ODCu
Head's omission from the Nagpur Test sparked controversy among former greats as the South Australian was their best batter in the home summer. The southpaw averaged a mind-boggling 87.50 against the West Indies and South Africa.
Former paceman Mitchell Johnson called for management to drop Warner and bring in Head if they wish to reverse their fortunes.
"If you shift and try to change too much, that's when you get lost as a touring team" - Australia coach
Despite a collective batting failure, head coach Andrew McDonald has urged his side to stick with the same approach and is against changing any plans. The 41-year-old felt the key was to shift the pressure back on the Indian team as swiftly as possible, stating:
As quoted by Perth Now, McDonald said:
"If you feel as though your preparation was good and the way you want to go about it is good then you recommit to that. If you shift and try to change too much that's when you get lost as a touring team. We've seen teams come to Australia and try to do the same.
"We feel as though when we came here we had a clear vision of how to play, how we want to go about it and we need to reinvest into that. We had a slight setback in the first Test match, we got behind in the game. Are we able to shift the pressure back into the Indian dressing room? That's the key."
Australia cannot afford to lose the second Test if they are to keep their hopes of regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy alive.