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Australia’s No. 3 batter, Marnus Labuschagne, became the second cricketer in the world after Joe Root to score 4000 runs in the World Test Championship on Thursday.
Marnus Labuschagne becomes 2nd player to score 4000 runs in WTC. (Picture Credit: AP, AFP)
Star Australian batter Marnus Labuschagne joined legendary England cricketer Joe Root in an elite list on Thursday, December 26. The 30-year-old right-handed batter, who came out to bat at No. 3 for the Baggy Greens in the first innings of the ongoing Boxing Day Test against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, became the second batter in the world after Root to score 4000 runs in the World Test Championship. Labuschagne joined Root in the 4000-run club by crossing the 14-run mark on Thursday during Australia’s first inning.
Root, who sits at No. 1 position in the ICC Test batter’s ranking, was the first batter to score 4000 runs in WTC. The right-handed batter from Yorkshire has 5543 runs to his name in 64 matches played so far, which is the most by a player in WTC history.
Labuschagne, on the other hand, has more than 4050 runs to his name in 49 matches. Former Australian captain Steve Smith is third in the list of leading scorers. He has scored over 3600 runs.
Labuschagne was horribly out of form in Test cricket before the start of the ongoing India-Australia Test series, but in the six innings played so far in the 2024-25 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he has scored two half-centuries.
The right-handed batter arrived at the crease in the 20th over on Thursday after Sam Konstas’ (60) dismissal and added 65 runs for the second wicket with Usman Khawaja (57). After Khawaja was sent back to the pavilion by Jasprit Bumrah on the first ball of the 45th over, Labuschagne joined hands with Smith and has so far added more than 80 runs for the third wicket.
If Labuschagne manages to score a century in the Melbourne Test, then it will be his first triple-digit score in Test cricket since scoring 111 against England at Old Trafford in Manchester in July 2023. In his last 21 Test innings, Labuschagne has only managed to score five half-centuries.
