5 things you may not know about Marnus Labuschagne 

#2 He played a role in Varun Aaron's dismissal during Australia vs India Gabba Test in 2014-15

Marnus Labuschagne took a brilliant catch at short leg

Almost four years before he made his Test debut, Marnus Labuschagne had stepped in as a substitute fielder for Australia in their 2014-15 home Test series against India. He came in to field during the second Test of the series at the Gabba. Murali Vijay’s hundred helped India near the 400 runs landmark in the first innings.

The Australian bowlers dismissed eight Indian batsmen for 394 runs and it looked like they would soon wrap up the tail. However, Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav showed some resistance in the middle. They took India’s total to 407 runs as Nathan Lyon and co. toiled to dismiss them. Lyon bowled the final ball of the 108th over to Aaron where the tail-ender tried a shot but the ball went towards the fielder standing at short leg.

Substitute Marnus Labuschagne executed a magnificent catch to send Aaron back to the pavilion. India’s innings ended soon as Labuschagne made his first contribution to the Australian Test team.

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#1 He was the first fielder to be penalized for fake fielding

Marnus Labuschagne had become the first victim of the new fake fielding law

ICC introduced a new rule in the year 2019 where,

“It is unfair for any fielder wilfully to attempt, by word or action, to distract, deceive or obstruct either batsman after the striker has received the ball. The umpires have the discretion to award five penalty runs if they determine that such deception is willful.”

This rule came into effect from 1st October 2019 and the first victim of the new law was Marnus Labuschagne. He committed this offence playing for Queensland during the JLT Cup 2019. The then 23-year-old pretended to have caught the ball and attempted a throw however, the umpires noted the incident and they penalised him under the new law. Also, Queensland’s opponents, Cricket Australia XI received five bonus runs for that incident.

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