Former Australia opener David Warner said that Marnus Labuschagne is nowhere close to his best form despite a steady 64-run knock in the Adelaide Test against India. He also believes Labuschagne got a few loose deliveries from India, which helped him get his eye in. Labuschagne came under the scanner heading into the pink-ball Test after managing scores of 2 and 3 in Perth.

Speaking to The Herald Sun, he said: “I’m still not convinced with Marnus. I don’t think that was anywhere near what we know he’s capable of. He might have got a couple out of the middle, got a couple of freebies, batted well that night to get through but they bowled poorly. So from that perspective, he had the best conditions to come out and bat in. But he got out the same way he always does get out when he gets over 50, hits it straight to gully.”

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“Steve of late, I think a lot of teams have been bowling at his pads and down leg side. So I think from that perspective they’re trying to shut his scoring down quite a bit. You see he’s trying to tinker with fixing certain things with Bumrah. His feet weren’t moving across this time. We know what Steve’s like, one knock and then he’s there,” he again said.

Meanwhile, Usman Khawaja and Steve Smith have struggled in both Tests with top scores of 13 and 17, respectively as well. Warner also added that the leg-side trap has worked against Steve Smith, but he also believes one knock is all he needs to return to form.

“Uz, exactly the same. He’s had a great 12 months before. But then of late he hasn’t scored as many runs as he would have liked, but same thing, you’ve just got to go out there and still present the same attitude, the same at training, keep working hard,” he concluded.