Michael Vaughan suggests Marnus Labuschagne to be more positive at the crease

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has suggested struggling Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne to be more positive at the crease. Notably, Labuschagne was dismissed for 2 and 3 across two innings in the first Test against India in Perth. The right-handed batter got a reprieve in the first innings as he was dropped by Virat Kohli at slips.

However, he batted with a defensive mindset scoring 2 (52) until being trapped in front of the stumps by Mohammed Siraj. Later in the second innings, he got out in a bizarre fashion as he left an incoming delivery from Bumrah which crashed into his pads and he was adjudged lbw. However, despite his failures, Vaughan has backed the star batter and expects him to get selected for the second Test in Adelaide.

“I’d go again (with Labuschagne). I’m a big believer that once you start a series with a team, unless there’s an injury or two and you have to change the formation, because of that, you made the call,” Vaughan told SEN.

Further speaking ahead, Vaughan mentioned Labuschagne’s struggles in the past three or four years and advised him to be more positive while batting.

“It’s not the Marnus of three or four years ago, so he’s got to find a method of looking to score and being a bit more positive, I think we’ll see that in Adelaide,” he added.

Labuschagne’s poor form since 2023

Labuschagne hasn’t been in the best of forms since 2023 having scored just 1048 runs from 19 matches (37 innings) at an average of 31.75 with one hundred and seven fifties to his name. Hence, the star batter has a lot riding on his shoulders with Sam Konstas having recently scored a century in the warm up game against India.

Meanwhile, Australia will be eager to make a comeback in the second Test in Adelaide having lost the first Test by 295 runs. The Pat Cummins-led side has won 11 out of the 12 day/night Test matches and hence will be eager to continue their dominance in the pink ball game.