Published 15:01 IST, February 11th 2020
Marnus Labuschagne 'stoked' by Sachin Tendulkar's 'Don Bradman-style' complement
Marnus Labuschagne was crowned the Australian Test Player of the Year at the Australian Cricket Awards after a fantastic outing in the 2nd half of 2019.
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A few days ago, the legendary Sachin Tendulkar had praised Australia's rising batting star Marnus Labuschagne for his composure and confidence. Tendulkar, in his comments, had likened Labuschagne to himself and had lauded the mentality that Australia's Test Player of the Year exhibited. Labuschagne was delighted by Tendulkar's comments on him and appreciated the praise that came his way from the Little Master.
Marnus Labuschagne 'stoked' about impressing Tendulkar
Marnus Labuschagne spoke in a video uploaded by cricket.com.au and mentioned how he was "stoked" to be hailed by Sachin Tendulkar himself. Labuschagne mentioned how he got excited on seeing reports about Tendulkar speaking on him and read them quickly. He further added that he was taken aback by the fact that he impressed someone of Tendulkar's calibre. Sachin Tendulkar is widely considered as the best batsmen of all-time with 15921 runs in Test cricket with 51 hundreds. What Tendulkar said about Labuschagne was something even the great Don Bradman had said about Tendulkar himself, back in 1998.
Last week, Tendulkar was in Sydney for the Bushfire Bash match when he was asked about the player who reminded Tendulkar of himself. Tendulkar answered with Marnus Labuschagne and mentioned how the Australian's mental toughness impressed him. The Little Master then recalled seeing Marnus Labuschagne bat in the Ashes 2019 and being hit by a Jofra Archer bouncer. Even after being rattled by a lethal bouncer, Tendulkar mentioned how Labuschagne maintained his composure and exhibited some very confident footwork that impressed Tendulkar. Labuschagne was cricket's first concussion-substitute when he came in to bat during the second Ashes Test of 2019 after Steve Smith was felled by a bouncer from Archer.
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Since then, Labuschagne has been on a roll and delivered some stunning performances against New Zealand and Pakistan. During these two series, Australia's No.3 batsman scored 896 runs with a double century, two 150s, one century, and three fifties. Along with making waves throughout the globe, Labuschagne was honoured as the "Test cricketer of the Year" at the Australian Cricket Awards on Monday.
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15:01 IST, February 11th 2020