Legendary India batsman Sachin Tendulkar heaped praise on Australia batsman Marnus Labuchagne by calling him “special”.
Tendulkar, who is in Australia for Sunday’s charity fundraiser for the devastating bushfires, recalled the incident when he first saw the Aussie at the crease.
“I happened to be watching the second Test match at Lord’s between England and Australia (in 2019). When Steve Smith got injured, I saw Labuschagne’s second innings,” Tendulkar said as quoted by PTI.
“I was sitting with my father-in-law. I saw Marnus get hit off the second ball from Jofra Archer and, post that, the 15 minutes he batted, I said, ‘This player looks special’,” he recalled.
Tendulkar is also impressed by the “precise” footwork of Labuschagne.
“There is something about him. His footwork was precise. Footwork is not physical, it’s mental. If you’re not thinking positively in your mind, then your feet don’t move,” he said.
By scoring 1,104 runs in 17 innings last year, Labuschagne became Test cricket’s leading run-getter. He broke into the scene after coming in as a concussion substitute for Steve Smith during the Ashes last August.
Labuschagne was declared Player of the Series in Tests against New Zealand in 2019 as he was the highest run-getter — 549 runs in 3 matches — in the series that the Aussies won 3-0. The right-handed batsman, with 347 runs in Tests against Pakistan in the same year, was the second-highest run-getter in the series.