India vs Australia: 5 Players to watch out for in the ODI series

2. Marnus Labuschagne

Probably the most loved young man in Australia currently – Marnus Labuschagne is the only Australian batsman to feature in this article. Since Ashes 2019, Labuschagne made a name for himself in the Test cricket. Since his first Test match in England, the right-handed batsman is the highest run-scorer (1249 runs) with eleven 50+ scores including four centuries in the longest format. Labuschagne is number three batsman in the ICC Test rankings and has proved to be rock-solid batsman at one down for his side.

However, the format will be different in this series, and Labuschagne is excited for the new challenge as he told to ESPNCricinfo. The 25-year-old is yet to make his debut in the limited-overs at the international stage. In his List A career of 33 matches, Labuschagne averages just 37.83 and has a strike rate of about 87. These numbers are not very imposing but Marnus has constantly raised the bar of his performance.

Playing for Queensland in the Marsh Cup 2019, the South Africa-born amassed 364 runs with a fantabulous average of 60.66 and an excellent strike rate of over 100. Labuschagne batted at one drop in the Marsh Cup, thus, the question arises – where will the visitors accommodate him in the batting order? Steve Smith is likely to bat at three and Peter Handscomb at number four performed well in India last year.

Albeit, the skipper Aaron Finch has shown enough confidence in Labuschagne. So, he might bat at four or five in the middle-order. Marnus is a decent player of spin, and the venues of this series are Mumbai, Rajkot and Bengaluru – batting-friendly grounds. Therefore, Labuschagne should be at ease scoring runs in his debut series.