Cricket: Australia batters need to be 'brave' against India

Marnus Labuschagne has called for Australian batsmen to "be more brave" to score more against the Indian bowlers in the upcoming Sydney Test match of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. The visiting Indian bowlers have tied down the Australian batsmen in both the Test matches so far, restricting them to 200 or less runs in each of the three complete innings. Labuschagne is the one of the two frontline batsmen who scored a half-century in the first Test in Adelaide. In the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, no Australian batsmen scored a half-century. Further, Australia could only score just 200 runs off more than 100 overs in the second innings in Melbourne. Labuschagne, the South African-born naturalised Australian, does not see Steve Smith's run of poor scores as a slump and expects Australia's premier batsman to score more freely in the remaining two Test matches - in Sydney on the 7th and at Brisbane on the 15th January.