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Australia batter Marnus Labuschagne was caught napping just before Australia lost their second wicket in the World Test Championship (WTC) final at The Kennington Oval in London on Friday. The camera showed the batter taking an afternoon siesta after fielding for almost two sessions while openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja tried to increase their team's lead over India.
Coming in at no. 3 for Australia, Labuschagne was all padded up and ready to take the field in case a wicket fell. But he had faith in his compatriot and was not spared by the cameras as he prepared himself for another long day on the field with the bat.
However, Mohammed Siraj got the breakthrough early to dismiss David Warner in the fourth over of their innings itself. The hustle of a lost wicket ended the batter's sleep, as he found his way out of the pavilion to replace Warner.
Meanwhile, Australia were 123/4 in their second innings at stumps on Day 3 of the World Test Championship Final against India. This was after they completely dominated the Indian batters and dismissed them for 296 in 69.4 overs.
India were lucky to avoid a follow-on after the failure of the top order. Day 3 did not start well for them as well, with wicketkeeper-batter KS Bharat (5) sent home early. Ajinkya Rahane and Shardul Thakur held down the fort for India but a brilliant catch by Cameron Green at gully off skipper Pat Cummins prevented a ton for him and sent him back for 89 off 129 balls.
A lot of the credit for India's score also goes to Shardul. His partnership of 109 runs for the seventh wicket with Ajinkya Rahane helped India avoid the follow-on. It is the joint second-highest partnership for India in an ICC tournament final. In addition, this was India's sixth-century partnership for the seventh wicket or below on England soil. Interestingly, Thakur has been a part of two of these century partnerships.
The 31-year-old got to his half-century from 108 deliveries. His was the ninth wicket to fall in the innings. Cameron Green bowled one outside off and Thakur edged it to wicketkeeper Alex Carey. He scored 51 runs from 109 deliveries including six fours. His knock helped India post 296 in reply to Australia’s 469.
