"It seemed like they were batting out the day to save the game"- Kumar Sangakkara slams Labuschagne, Khawaja for lack of intent

Former Sri Lankan skipper Kumar Sangakkara questioned the Australian duo of Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja for their respective knocks on Day 2 of the ongoing Ashes 2023 Test at Headingley, Leeds.

After Labuschagne and Khawaja added just 38 runs in about 12 overs for the second wicket, Sangakkara felt they missed out on an opportunity to dominate and pile on more misery for the hosts.

Speaking on Sky Sports Cricket's Ashes Podcast, here's what Sangakkara had to say about Labuschagne and Khawaja's knocks:

"It was surprising to see the way Labuschagne and Khawaja batted. It seemed like they were batting out the day to save the game and not batting to get ahead in the game. If you want to bat time, the only way to do that is to score runs. If you just try and bat time you're not going anywhere and every time you lose a wicket you bring the opposition back into the game as we saw."

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Anything under 300 and England are chasing it down: Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara further explained how Labuschagne and Khawaja's lack of proactive batting meant that Australia just didn't move forward in the game. The visitors are four wickets down already and the former cricketer reckons they need to get to a lead of at least 300 runs.

On this, Sangakkara stated:

"Labuschagne and Khawaja need to look at themselves in terms of the context of the game. They can't get too lost in their own game and not think about what the team needs from them. Now they are four down and England are right back into this. Anything under 300 and I feel England are chasing it down."

Australia's lead stands at 142 ahead of play on Day 3 with Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head at the crease.