'This year is a Test Championship Final and Ashes year': Labuschagne on missing IPL 2023

Marnus Labuschagne heads into the ICC World Test Championship Final against India at The Oval stadium in London, as the No. 1 ranked Test batsman. He tops the ICC Test Batsman Rankings with a 32-point lead and is key to Australia’s bid for their first-ever CC World Test Championship title. He managed to register only one fifty during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 which Australia lost by 1-2.

While several Aussie players remained in India to participate in the Indian Premier League 2023, Marnus Labuschagne traveled to Europe for a County stint. He spent the last two months with the English County side Glamorgan and looked to be in great touch. Acclimatizing for the World Test Championship final and the Ashes 2023, Labuschagne scored two centuries, alongside 504 runs in eight innings. 

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Having not participated in the IPL 2023, Labuschagne feels his time at Glamorgan will be much more helpful, citing the upcoming ICC WTC final and Ashes 2023. “I have been coming back for five years now. It is just part of my normal routine of coming here. I love coming here, I love playing County cricket, I love the team at Glamorgan, I enjoy it so much otherwise I wouldn’t be coming back. It just helps that this year is a Test Championship Final and Ashes year so it is very helpful for leading into the series,” said Labuschagne, according to the ICC.

"With the Dukes ball in their hand, they are going to be.."

The Aussie batter further opened up on the ‘underrated’ Indian pace attack, referring to the Dukes ball. “Two months ago we played against India, so in terms of seeing them and knowing their actions and what they do we are pretty clear on that. With the Dukes ball in their hand they are going to be able to showcase their skills a lot more,” he added.

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India vs Australia: Full Squads for ICC World Test Championship final

Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Josh Inglis, Todd Murphy, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner; Reserves: Mitch Marsh, Matt Renshaw

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ravichandran Ashwin, KS Bharat, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Ishan Kishan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadakt, Umesh Yadav; Reserves: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mukesh Kumar, Suryakumar Yadav