Australian star batter wants to emulate Joe Root’s style of play in the upcoming series in Sri Lanka

The recession hit Sri Lanka is all set to welcome Australia Cricket Team with wide arms as they bring in $2.5 million in terms of business. One of the key members of the Australian team, Marcus Labuschagne has expressed a desire to repeat Joe Root’s success in the Southernmost Asian country.

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Sri Lanka are all set to host the team from down under for three T20s, five ODIs as well as two Test matches in what is going to be a real test for both sides. Australia sit comfortably at the very top of the Test rankings with a rating of 128, nine more than the second-placed India team. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka languish at seventh with a meagre 82 points.

Labuschagne, the top ICC best batsman has set his eyes on doing well in his first “real subcontinent challenge.”. The Right-handed batter has been impressed with Joe Root’s performance and wants to replicate it. Talking to BBC Sport Wales he said, “For me, it’s my first real subcontinent challenge against spin, it’s about conquering that challenge. Joe Root played phenomenally over there; I’ve learned a lot from how he went about his game there.”

The Klerksdorp-born player is also wary of the intense heat and humidity that the Sri Lankan weather offers and is looking forward to adjusting to it. “As a team, we want to be the best in the world, it doesn’t matter where you take us, we want to be winning games and I certainly think we can do that in Sri Lanka. I’ll have to get used to conditions, the heat, and sweating it out, which is something we haven’t had the last few games,” he explained.

Currently, Labuschagne occupies the top spot in Test rankings, having made 2390 runs with an average of 54.31 in 26 tests. In his last subcontinent tour, which was against Pakistan, the right-handed batter did not do well and is looking to change that in his second outing.