The Oval crowd, which was celebrating opener David Warner‘s wicket, startled Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne from his amusing nap during Day 3 of the World Test Championship Final on Friday.
When the cameras focused on Labuschagne, who saw the chance to take a quick nap while sitting in the dressing room balcony, Mohammed Siraj was troubling Warner with his probing lines and lengths in the third over of the third innings.
The following ball was a wobble-seam delivery from Siraj that moved away from the left-hander and caused Warner to edge it to the wicketkeeper. The Australian was jolted awake by the jubilant roar of the crowd.
During the WTC Final, David Warner’s wicket awakens Marnus Labuschagne, who had fallen asleep
A few videos of the same are provided below:
#rip pic.twitter.com/VM4saOZEH4
— a | captain gill era (@91atgabba) June 9, 2023
It was odd how long he took to take his guard before facing his first ball. The right-hander needs some time to freshen up, joked on-air commentators.
Siraj hit the Australian player flush on his glove with his second ball after Virat Kohli began energizing the crowd with his antics.
Labuschagne was not chased out by India and Shubman Gill because they fell asleep.
Given their commanding lead in the game, Australia could afford to let their top batter take a nap in between innings.
But during the first hour of Australia’s innings, India needed to be alert to take advantage of any opportunities that presented themselves.
When Labuschagne pushed a ball to third slip in the sixth over, they failed to accomplish this. And because of his misunderstanding with Usman Khawaja, both batters ended up at the same end.
Shubman Gill fluffed the run-out opportunity at the non-striker’s end by hurriedly throwing the ball blindly. Single taken safely by both batters.
In order to have a chance in the game, India must pick up a few more Australian wickets in the first 20 overs as they are still far behind.
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