Australia call up Marnus Labuschagne for India ODIs

Cricket Australia (CA) has named a 14-man squad for the ODI series versus India in January 2020. Mumbai, Rajkot and Bengaluru are the hosts for the three matches. The Aussies are yet to lose a limited-overs match after the 2019 World Cup. Aaron Finch’s men defeated Pakistan and Sri Lanka in five T20Is and are now looking forward to carry their form in the One Day format as well.

In the meantime, Australia have called up Marnus Labuschagne for the upcoming series. Labuschagne averages 37.83 for Queensland in domestic cricket after his debut back in 2015. His ‘strong white-ball form’ for Queensland has earned him a call-up. The 25-year-old from South Africa is having a dream run in Tests, having scored 1022 runs at 68.13 in 2019, the most by any batsman.

Labuschagne is ready for Australia white-ball debut, says chief selector

“Similar to the Test team, we are wanting the white ball squad to continue the form of the unbeaten T20 Series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka,” Trevor Hohns, the national selector, was quoted as saying in cricket.com.au.

“The performance of the top order at home through the T20 series was very strong so we look for that to continue in the Indian ODI series. We also believe Marnus Labuschagne is ready for his international white-ball debut after his strong form for Queensland in this form of the game,” Hohns added.

Sean Abbott and Kane Richardson, both of whom who has been part of the recent T20 squads, have been included. They will be joining the pace troika of Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins. Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar will be there for the spin-department. Even Labuschagne can roll his arms over, having picked 66 wickets across all the formats.

Justin Langer, the head coach of the Australian team, won’t be travelling to India for the short tour. Rather, Andrew McDonald, the assistant coach, will be taking charge. The series starts on January 14 followed by the matches on January 17 and January 19.

Here is Australia’s ODI squad  

Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey (vc), Pat Cummins (vc), Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Kane Richardson, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Turner, David Warner, Adam Zampa