Marnus Labuschagne was penalised after being given a warning by the umpire for negative bowling during the final session of day three of the Perth Test between Australia and India.
Labuschagne, predominantly a wrist spinner, bowled medium pace in his first five overs. He attempted a bag of tricks during the experiment, one of which was bowling bouncers to the Indian batters, who were motoring along in their second innings.
With India at 467-6 after the 132nd over, Kohli and debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy pressed their feet on the pedal in a bid to get quick runs. Labuschagne again returned to bowl, but this time reverting to his original mode of bowling – wrist spin.
Labuschagne bowls down the leg
Coming from around the wicket, he resorted to a down-the-leg stump line this time, a tactic which is regarded as "negative" as per ICC. He was warned by umpire Chris Gaffaney for the same.
The ICC Men's Test Match Playing Conditions state under law 22.1.4: "For bowlers who umpires consider to be bowling down the leg side as a negative tactic, the strict limited over Wide interpretation shall be applied." It is for the umpires to determine what counts as a 'negative tactic'.
Virat Kohli’s century in Perth takes him past Don Bradman’s 29 Test hundreds and ties him with Matthew Hayden and Shivnarine Chanderpaul on the all-time list.
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The word of caution didn’t deter Labuscagne as he continued to bowl a similar channel. On the first ball of his seventh over, Virat Kohli nearing his record-breaking 30th Test ton let it go as wicketkeeper Alex Carey collected it down the leg side. The umpire, however, deemed the delivery as wide.
Kohli finally reached his landmark off the third ball by sweeping Labuschagne to deep fine leg as India declared their innings at 487-6, with Yashasvi Jaiswal (161) being the top scorer. Reddy, India's top-scorer (41) in the first innings, contributed with a 27-ball 38 as the pair added 77 runs in just 8.4 overs.
Australia were set a target of 534. Notably, the hosts’ highest fourth innings total (404-3) on a winning cause was way back in 1948 against England. During the daunting chase, Labuschagne fell for a five-ball three against Jasprit Bumrah as Australia were reduced to 12-3 by stumps.
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