Labuschagne's slowest knock in Test for Australia adds to poor form in whites

In a recent Test match in Perth, Australia, Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne made headlines for all the wrong reasons, recording the slowest innings by an Australian batsman in the history of Test cricket.

Labuschagne registered this unfortunate record during the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India at Perth's Optus Stadium on Friday.

Though he was given an early lifeline after being dropped by Virat Kohli in the slips. However, he could not make most of it and scored just two runs in 52 balls before being dismissed by Mohammed Siraj.

His strike rate of 3.84 makes it Australia's slowest-ever Test knock, outdoing the bowler Steven O'Keefe, who batted 98 balls for four runs at a strike rate of 4.08 against Sri Lanka in 2016.

This continues Marnus's poor run in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle as he has scored just 655 runs in 25 innings at an average of 28.47, with a century and five fifties in 13 matches. His best score is 111.

This year, Labuschagne has scored 242 runs in 11 innings at an average of 26.88, with three fifties in 11 innings and best score of 90.

Since his last Test century in July last year, he has scored 349 runs in nine matches at a poor average of 23.26, with four fifties in 17 innings and best score of 90.

Coming to the match, India won the toss and opted to bat first. They lost wickets at regular intervals, with KL Rahul being the only batter in the top order who could survive for long. Rishabh Pant and Nitish Kumar Reddy put on an important 48-run stand that took India to 150/10.

Josh Hazlewood was the top wicket-taker for the Aussies, taking 4/29. Skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Alex Carey got two each.

Thanks to a four-wicket haul by Bumrah, Australia ended the day one struggling at 67/7.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.