Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne believes that India’s historic fourth-innings chase at the Gabba in 2021 holds little relevance as they head into the final day of a gripping Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. In that memorable victory in Brisbane, India successfully chased down 328 to clinch the series. They will need to replicate a similar effort at the MCG on Monday to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and strengthen their chances of reaching the ICC World Test Championship Final, as Australia finished Day 4 at 228/9, holding a lead of 333 runs.
Despite many of India’s key players from the 2021 triumph still being present, Labuschagne believes the conditions in Melbourne and the current series context are vastly different from those in Brisbane three years ago.
“That wicket at the Gabba was flat,” Labuschagne recalled after his innings of 70 at the MCG on Sunday, as quoted by the ICC.
“There were some cracks appearing there for memory, but the wicket itself was really nice,” he said.
“I remember that wicket because I think that it (the match) almost started a day early or two days early and it was like a Day 2 wicket on Day 1 and it was quite firm,” he added.
“There was a little bit of bounce there as you do get in Brisbane, but it was a nice wicket,” he noted.
“And we were also in that position in that Test where we had to win the series, so we had to try and set a total,” he said.
“Ideally we would have liked to set India more in that game and probably bowl a few less overs, but because we had to win we had to risk it a little bit more,” he noted.
With Australia yet to be dismissed in their second innings, the exact target India will need to chase remains uncertain. Tailenders Nathan Lyon and Scott Boland frustrated the visitors by adding an unbeaten 51-run stand in the final session, pushing Australia’s lead past 300.
Labuschagne also revealed that Australia had considered declaring during the final session, but a brilliant spell from Jasprit Bumrah, which saw the Aussies lose four wickets in quick succession, forced them to abandon that plan.
“The perfect outcome for us would have probably looked like having a bowl tonight and putting them under pressure,” Labuschagne said, as quoted by ICC.
“But the way the wicket played and the way India bowled and came out and put us under pressure in that first 40 to 50 overs, that wasn’t an option for us,” he said.
“It became, let’s get as many runs as we can and that’s obviously creeping into a nice total now, but there was a time there where it could have been 250 or 270 (run lead) or maybe even less there for a bit,” he added.
“So I think we navigated that really well and the lower-order deserve a lot of credit, for how they managed that last part,” he noted.
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