Image Credit- ICC
Up until the championship match, Marnus Labuschagne’s
greatest accomplishment at the 2023 ODI World Cup was his assistance in a
run-out from the deep that helped end a close match against New Zealand in
Dharamsala.
He has scored 304 runs with a strike percentage of
75.62 while using the bat. There were doubts about its logic, particularly
considering that Australia had another anchor in Steven Smith, whom they
desired to be in the starting eleven.
In the end, Australia stuck with it, and Labuschagne
helped them win with a situation-appropriate innings of 58 off 110 balls in the
championship match.
Standing next to Travis Head, who had established a
solid foundation on route to a barnstorming century, was a perfect fit for him.
There were just 241 targets. Labuschagne had left for three at 47.
Subsequently, he stated that he didn’t require clarification on his approach.
The trophy was only two runs away when their 192-run stand came to an end with
Head holing out in the deep.
“I was quite nervous when I was waiting to
bat,” Labuschagne told reporters afterwards. “But when you get on the
field, nothing really changes. You’re watching the ball, and you just try and
get in the zone, trying to focus, the noise sort of gets blocked out, it gets
into the periphery, but it was loud. There was a bit of pressure there, but it
was good.
“My mindset was you treat it like a Test match.
When you’re batting with Travis Head, there’s usually no run-rate pressure.
When you’re chasing a lower total like 230 [241], unless you’re really
struggling, there’s not going to be much run-rate pressure. It was just about
being nice and positive, but also lock-in like I would if I was playing a Test
match, just making sure I was defending the ball well and when they bowled a
bad ball, score off that. Just make sure you’re building a partnership with
your partner out there.”
I came to realise how unexpectedly things may change
in life. Two months ago, Labuschagne was nowhere close to Australia’s World Cup
team. Despite averaging 22.30 with a strike rate of 69.87 in 14 innings before
the World Cup, he had even been left out of their tour party to South Africa.
However, destiny had another plan in mind.
“It’s hard for me not to believe in
miracles,” he said. “There’s someone above putting the pieces of the
puzzle together. I think unofficially I was dropped five times. I wasn’t in the
squad in South Africa, someone got concussed, I got an opportunity, got some
runs and pushed my case. Then I got on the squad, and played 19 games in a row,
since the first South Africa match. I’m very thankful to the coaches and
selectors for sticking by me. There are some really good players. Marcus Stoinis
missed out this game, and he’s a phenomenal player. I’m just very thankful they
stuck by me and I lucked out.”