New Delhi, Sep 6 Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne praised India’s fast bowling line-up, adding that it is an aspect which makes the visitors’ a tough team to beat in Australian conditions.
India has won 2-1 in the last two Border-Gavaskar Trophy series happening in 2018/19 and 2020/21 in Australia, with their fast-bowling group of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, along with Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini and T Natarajan being in the mix.
“Both Australia and India, love the game and, they're at the top of their game at the moment. I mean, the energy when these two teams play together is always high. There's always high anticipation. To these two teams, it doesn't matter where we're playing, if it's in England, Australia, or India, it's always a tough contest.”
“India's fast bowling is very good, which is really what brings them in Australian conditions and make them such a tough team to beat in Australian conditions. Hopefully this summer we can turn the tables on India and put them under real pressure,” said Labuschagne to Star Sports.
The 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy will see India and Australia squaring off in the all-important five-match series at Perth, Adelaide (pink-ball game), Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, respectively.
Australia’s fast-bowling all-rounder Cameron Green commented on the importance of the upcoming series for both teams, with the first of five Tests starting in Perth on November 22, especially with both teams being in top two teams of World Test Championship table.
"Yeah, I think it's always an amazing rivalry and I think lots of things come out of the tournament every single time we go versus each other. So yeah, I'm sure this series won't be any less. So yeah, looking forward to it. Every single point is pretty crucial for the World Test Championship.
"Any way you can kind of get an idea of how to get one up on your opponent, I think we'll try and take. So yeah, if it is a bit of a preview for a World Test Championship final again, I think yeah, we've been trying to get as much information out of India and see how we can win it again. Yeah, I'm sure it'll be a great series."
Veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon also talked about the respect he’s had for his Indian counterpart Ravichandran Ashwin. “I've always said throughout my whole career I want to compete against the best and you look through the whole Indian line-up, the whole squad, there's absolute superstars everywhere you look and you want to compete and challenge yourself against them and I know Ashwin and we debuted around similar times and we've competed against each other in a number of series now and between me and Ashwin I have got nothing but respect for him."
“I feel like I love watching him bowl, he's an absolute master in the craft of off-spin bowling and it's been an absolute privilege to play against him and learn off him. Pretty exciting, it's obviously a massive summer for us out here so can't wait to have the Indian guys out here," he concluded.
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