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After veteran Australia batter Steve Smith was hit while taking on Marnus Labuschagne in throwdown session on Tuesday, December 3, the latter was also left injured while facing former New Zealand bowler and Aussie bowling coach Daniel Vettori in the net session. In video making rounds of the Australia cricket team training hard ahead of the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, Marnus was left injured.
This injury comes at a crucial time with Josh Hazlewood already out of the pink-ball Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) and Steven Smith also sustaining an injury just days prior to the second Test, which is scheduled to be played from December 6 onwards at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide.
Marnus Labuschagne gets hit in nets ahead of pink-ball Test
Marnus, who has been struggling for runs in the longest format of the game, has been facing criticism from all corners. However, he has been grinding hard in the nets ahead of the second Test of the highly-anticipated five-match Test series. During one of the practice sessions, Australia’s No. 3 batter was struck by a rising delivery from Daniel Vettori. Despite the blow, he continued to bat after fixing his gears.
Watch video of Marnus Labuschagne’s injury:
It is to be noted that Marnus’ form is more alarming than that of Steve Smith. He registered single digit scores in the first Test against India, accumulating to five runs from the two innings. Several former cricketers, including the likes of Mitchell Johnson have opined that he should be dropped from the second Test and get back to some practice in domestic season.
Australia squad for second BGT Test
Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster, Sean Abbott, Bredan Doggett.
