Dubai: All-rounder Marnus Labuschagne on Sunday has been added to the Australian squad for the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, beginning from January 3 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
“We will get up to Sydney and have a look at the conditions,” ICC quoted Australia captain Tim Paine, as saying after the Melbourne Test while confirming Labuschagne’s inclusion.
“From what we are hearing, it will probably spin quite a bit so once we see that for ourselves, we will start to think about the best combination for ourselves to win that Test. We think we have got the best group of players available to us at the moment and we will pick the best combination for that group that we think will win the last Test,” Paine added.
The 24-year-old, who picked up seven wickets and scored 43 in his debut two-Test series against Pakistan in the UAE in October this year, was dropped from the squad for wicket-keeper batsman Peter Handscomb and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh as they occupied the middle-order spots.
As his last five first-class scores of 52, 4, 47, 21 and 78 hold him in good stead, Labuschagne might make the cut as much for his leg-spin as for his batting and could replace Mitchell Marsh as the fifth bowling option. Australia face a must-win situation in Sydney after having lost the Boxing-Day Test in Melbourne by 137 runs. While a 2-1 up India eye to win their first series in Australia.