[Watch] – Marnus Labuschagne hits bullseye to catch Babar Azam short of his crease

Marnus Labuschagne produced a brilliant effort on the field to get the batter of Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Day 2 of the Rawalpindi Test on Saturday.

Opting to bat first, the hosts tired the Australian bowlers, batting 162 overs before declaring at 476-4. Imam-ul-Haq (157) and Azhar Ali (185) propelled Pakistan to a daunting first-innings total.

Just when things were not going in favour of the visitors with the ball, Labuschange produced a magical effort on the field. Babar Azam nudged one to the on-side, but Labuschagne was quick to latch onto the ball. He picked it up cleanly, and hit the target at the non-striker’s end, catching Azam short of his crease.

Watch the clip here:

The dismissal brought some respite for the Aussies after Pakistan batters kept them on the field for almost two days.

High on confidence, Marnus Labuschagne effected another dismissal, this time with the ball. He got the better of the well-set Azhar Ali with his gentle leg-spin. Ali, who was batting on 185, went for a reverse sweep, only to top edge it. The ball landed was pouched up safely by Cameron Green, who was stationed at short third-man as Pakistan lost their fourth wicket at the score of 442.

“One part we don’t have covered is spin” – Marnus Labuschagne ahead of Pakistan tour

Marnus Labuschane has come to Pakistan with an open mind in terms of conditions he could experience during the ongoing Test series. Citing it as a challenge, the No.1 Test batter said that spin is the visitors’ only concern.

Labuschagne said in this regard:

“It’s a really exciting challenge to go over there. We don’t really know what we’ll get; we don’t have much intel on the wickets. If the wickets are what I’ve heard they are – they’ve got a good pace attack, and they have some pace in their wickets – well we’ve had plenty of practice on fast, bouncy wickets at the Gabba, so think we’ve got that covered.”

He added:

“One part we don’t have covered is spin. We don’t necessarily have too many wickets around our country that spin. You can only do your best with recreating conditions that you face, then from there, you try to make sure you are prepared when you get out there.”

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Marnus Labuschagne was spotted training on a homemade mat with aluminum strips taped to it, to try and adjust to the inconsistent spin on Asian wickets. The 27-year-old has scored 2220 runs in 23 Tests at an average of 56.92, including six centuries and 12 fifties.