Australia are up against Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series, scheduled to be held later in June. The series, which is a part of their larger campaign, has been clubbed with three T20I and five ODI matches.
A lot of onus will ride on the likes of Steve Smith and especially Marnus Labuschagne, who currently holds the top ICC ranking amongst the Test batters. Speaking ahead of the series, Labuschagne stated that he will be taking a leaf out of Joe Root’s book on how to deal with the conditions in Sri Lanka and hopefully, he will emulate the former England captain’s success. Root during his Sri Lanka tour in 2021, scored 228 in the first Test match and followed it up with another 186 runs in the first innings of the second Test.
“For me, it’s my first real subcontinent challenge against spin, it’s about conquering that challenge,” Labuschagne told BBC Sport Wales.
“Joe Root played phenomenally over there, I’ve learned a lot from how he went about his game there,” he further added.
Sri Lanka will be a big Test for Australia, who played in flat conditions in the Pakistan series. Labuschagne further talked about the difference in conditions from the United Kingdom, where he is currently playing. He said that he would have to adjust to the heat and the loss of water from the sweating in Sri Lanka.
“As a team we want to be the best in the world, it doesn’t matter where you take us, we want to be winning games and I certainly think we can do that in Sri Lanka. I’ll have to get used to the conditions, the heat and sweating it out, which is something we haven’t had the last few games [in the UK].” the batter said.
