Watch: Marnus Labuschagne Copies Steve Smith's Batting Technique, Leaves Twitter Divided

Steve Smith, ever since his comeback to international cricket from a one-year ban, has made headlines for scoring runs with ease. However, there is one thing which has overshadowed his above skills and grabbed everyone's attention -- his unusual batting technique. While many batsmen stick to the coaching manual, Steve Smith has found a new technique all-together to deal with the ball pitched outside off stump. Steve Smith's technique has now found a new proponent in Marnus Labuschagne. After scoring his maiden Test century in the series opener against Pakistan, Marnus Labuschagne adopted Steve Smith's mannerism to leave the ball outside off stump in the second Test. Posting a video, Cricket Australia wrote: "The light saber leave is out in full force here".

The light saber leave is out in full force here#AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/QkY8Spm5O4

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 29, 2019

However, Labuschagne copying Smith's mannerism received mixed reactions on Twitter. While some fans criticised him for his bizzare technique, others praised his ability to adapt to a new technique.

No-one did it better than Courtney Walsh - stop copying the master

— Mister Squid (@FreedomSquid) November 29, 2019

Steve Smith wannabe oh I mean apprentice

— Lorenzo (@tuccitto68) November 29, 2019

Won't be surprised if Smith and Labuschagne are hired to teach the actors in the next Star Wars movie how to use the lightsaber.

— Bimal Mirwani (@BimalMirwani) November 29, 2019

My man is becoming Smith

— shravan (@swacker19) November 29, 2019

Australia skipper Tim Paine won the toss and decided to bat in the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval.

However, after the national anthems the match got off to a delayed start due to a light drizzle.

Finding themselves idle, Australia's two openers David Warner and Joe Burns engaged themselves in a game of rock paper scissors to kill time while waiting for the rain to stop.

After the play started, the hosts got off to a poor start as Joe Burns departed cheaply for four runs in the fourth over of the innings. He was dismissed by Pakistan's teenage bowler Shaheen Afridi.

After that, Warner and Labuschagne played cautiously to deny Pakistani bowlers any success.

While Warner batted with a decent strike rate, Labuschagne batted rather slowly as he was a bit extra careful. Importantly, both of them put on an unbeaten 50-run partnership for the second wicket. At Tea, Australia were 70/1 with Warner just five runs short of his 31st half-century in Test cricket.

Topics mentioned in this article

Australia Cricket Team Pakistan Cricket Team Steven Smith Marnus Labuschagne David Warner Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Cricket