‘Told Rohit Sharma I'm watching whatever you do…': Marnus Labuschagne after Australia beat India in 3rd Test

Marnus Labuschagne has not got a fifty yet in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India but he is the only Australian batter to have gotten off to a start in each of the six innings that he has batted. At a time when run-scoring has been hard, to say the least, Labuschagne has applied himself and has even taken the attack to Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja when required to make valuable contributions to Australia's totals.

He can be criticised for not converting any of his starts to anything substantial - he has scores of 49, 17, 18, 35, 31, 28* - but he was been involved in three of Australia's biggest partnerships in the series. After Australia beat India by nine wickets in the third Test in Indore to stage a comeback in the four-match series, Labuschagne was asked about his methods of batting in these challenging conditions. The right-hander said he took a leaf out of India captain Rohit Sharma's books.

Rohit is the only batter to have scored a century so far in the series. He slammed a brilliant 120 off 212 balls in the first Test in Nagpur.

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"I said to Rohit out there when we were walking. I said ‘I am watching whatever you do, I want to learn. You guys are the best in these conditions. We are foreign to these conditions’. You learn from the opposition, you learn from the way they do it. We try to learn and grow with each game," Labuschagne told Star Sports.

"The most important thing is how you work in partnership. It's you and your mate out there. Today was just a great example. It is so tough to bat on. We both just trusted each other's game and kept going. The important thing, when you are under pressure and if your partner is hitting well, you've just got to stay there and support him," he said.

While chasing 76, Australia lost opener Usman Khawaja for a duck in the first over but Labuschagne and Travis Head made sure there were no further hiccups. The No.1-ranked Test batter said the Australian batters collectively decided to trust their defence after the debacle in the first two Tests of the series.

"Everyone just revisited their plans and techniques. I have found five-six different ways. As the series goes on, you see the field changes happen. The mid-wicket is back, the deep point is back. So you're not getting the free boundaries. That's the beauty of a four-five match series. It changes so much. As a team, we revisited our game and said we just have to trust our defence as batters. Obviously, you might get one that turns and gets you out as Steve got in the first innings.

"We have to continue to learn and make sure the first Test, the second Test is not the same. We need to keep learning," Labuschagne said.