Photo via The Times of India

From outranking Fab Four to fight for place: Rise, reign & unraveling of Labuschagne

Marnus Labuschagne has struggled to convert starts into big scores during a recent tour of South Africa, where he was dismissed in the thirties three times across four innings. In the second Test, he was caught by Marco Jansen after attempting to hit Simon Harmer for six, ending a 92-run stand with Travis Head.

This poor form contributed to Australia's defeat by an innings and 31 runs.

Once a dominant force, Labuschagne rose to the top of the ICC Test rankings by the 2021 Boxing Day Test, surpassing Steve Smith, Joe Root, Virat Kohli, and Kane Williamson. After debuting as a concussion substitute for Smith at Lord's in 2019, he averaged 173.50 against Pakistan and 91.50 against New Zealand.

While he averaged 62.3 between 2019 and 2022 with 10 centuries, his average has dropped to 29.7 since 2023, with only one hundred in 66 innings.

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