Watch: Marnus Labuschagne drops bat, wrings hand in pain after being hit by vicious Mohammed Siraj lifter

Watch: Marnus Labuschagne was hit by a vicious ball from Mohammed Siraj on the first morning of the World Test Championship final at The Kia Oval today (June 7), causing him to drop his bat and wring his hand in pain.

Labuschagne was at the crease early on day one after Usman Khawaja was out for a duck having nicked a peach of a delivery from Siraj to the keeper. Tail-up, Siraj switched his focus to the new batter and sent down a brutal short ball to the ICC No.1 ranked Test batter in the world.

The ball pitched short and wide of off stump and moved off the seam, kicking up at Labuschagne, who looked to get his hands out of the way and leave it. The ball followed Labuschagne’s hands and struck the thumb of his left hand which, being the right-hander’s top hand, had no padding to protect it.

Labuschagne was instantly in considerable pain, dropping his bat on impact and walking away while shaking his injured hand. A significant break in play followed while the physio came out to treat him, who was eventually able to continue batting after taking some pain killers.

Siraj continued to look dangerous in his opening spell, finding prodigious seam movement and beating the bat on several occasions. India have gone into the match with four seamers, preferring Shardul Thakur to R Ashwin with Ravindra Jadeja the all-rounder in the lineup.

Labuschagne was again hit on the hand later in the morning session, by Thakur. This time, the ball brushed his right hand. However, despite the challenges posed by the India seamers, Australia were still able to reach 60 for no further loss after Khawaja by the end of the first hour of play.

At the time of writing, Australia were 62-1 with Warner on 39 and Labuschagne on 22.