Birthday special: Marnus Labuschagne's 3 best knocks against India

Australia's batting superstar Marnus Labuschagne turns 29 today (June 22). The right-hander, who burst into prominence when he scored four-consecutive half-centuries in the 2019 Ashes, is now the third-ranked batter in the ICC Test men's rankings. He's also Australia's batting mainstay alongside Steve Smith in Ashes 2023.

Labuschagne has had decent success against India in both Tests and ODIs, with averages of 45.59 (775 runs from 10 matches) and 31.71 (222 runs from nine matches), respectively. Though India have managed to get him out early in most crucial matches, he has shown his true class a few times as well.

Here's a look at his best three knocks against India:

#3 - 70 (61) in Australia vs India 2nd ODI in Sydney, 2020

Marnus Labuschagne with Virat Kohli after the 2nd ODI in Sydney.

This was Labuschagne's best score against India in ODIs and one that showed he's the perfect number four for the Kangaroos.

It was January 2020 and Australia were leading the three-match ODI series 1-0. Batting first, openers David Warner and Aaron Finch gave a great start before Steve Smith racked up his second-consecutive hundred in the series.

Labuschagne came to bat at 156/2 and quickly settled into the anchor role, constantly giving the strike to Smith (strike rate of 162.50) and then Glenn Maxwell (217.24). As the duo took on the Indian bowlers, Labuschagne hit five loose balls for boundaries and made the rest of his 50 runs with singles and doubles.

Stability at one end allowed his partners to attack and by the time he got out, Australia were 372/4. They eventually ended up with 389 and won by 51 runs.

#2 - 49 (123) in India vs Australia 1st Test in Nagpur, 2023

Labuschagne has scored three half-centuries against India but his 49 in the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy this year ranks above them on skill.

Australia opted to bat on the dry, spin-haven Nagpur track but lost both openers within three overs to India's pacers. Labuschagne and Smith, who were shown to be preparing strenuously for India's spinners before the series, joined hands at 2/2.

The former kicked off his innings with a beautiful on-drive against Mohammed Siraj. India switched to spinners after the Aussie hit another drive against Mohammed Shami. But he looked in supreme control, taking on everything straight or with width from Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel for six more boundaries, and defending everything on the off-stump under his eyes.

Australia were 76/2 at lunch and it looked like India were facing the two best players of spin at home in a long time.

But as it often happens in Tests, things started happening after Lunch. Shami showed a bit of reverse swing, a few balls kept low and Jadeja used the chaos by drawing Labuschagne into the drive and getting him stumped in the 36th over. Australia soon crumbled for 177 and India won by an innings and 132 runs.

#1 Marnus Labuschagne's 108 (204) in Australia vs India 4th Test at the Gabba, 2021

The Aussie No. 3 celebrates his ton at the Gabba.

Probably his best knock in a losing cause, Labuschagne's 108 (204) — also his top score against India — in the first innings at the Gabba in 2021 has already been forgotten, courtesy of India and Rishabh Pant's famous chase on Day 5.

He came to bat at 4/1 and once again, started his knock with a statement boundary against Siraj, who was only playing his third Test. This time it was a pull to the square-leg fence. However, he soon followed up with an on-drive similar to the one in Nagpur, which the on-air commentators called "shot of the morning".

He was dropped at 37 and 48 and India paid the price by being spectators to more pull-shots and spectacular cover drives. The boundary frequency only increased after he reached 50 off 145 balls and his next 50 came at a strike rate of 100. This was his fifth Test century overall and second at his home ground.

Left-arm pacer T Natarajan eventually got him out with a change-of-pace short ball, which was also his debut wicket.