Push the tempo: Aussies look to lift scoring rate

It was always unlikely that Marnus Labuschagne was going to match his record-breaking feats from last summer, but it's not only the right-hander's batting average that's taken a hit so far in the Vodafone Test Series against India.

Labuschagne, like he was last season, is Australia's leading run-scorer halfway through this summer's Test campaign, but his 129 runs at 32.25 is a long way from the 896 at 112 he scored last summer.

And a combination of a misfiring Australian opening pair that's been missing David Warner, some nicely-grassed playing surfaces, shrewd field placings and an impressively disciplined Indian bowling attack has also seen Labuschagne's strike rate reduce by almost a third, down to 41.61 from 61.49 last season.

But the Queenslander has not been alone in this regard.

Of Australia's top six for the opening two Tests, the only player with a strike rate of more than 50 is the one man who won't be there for the third Test in Sydney, axed opener Joe Burns.

As reported by cricket.com.au this week, Australia's run rate of 1.94 from more than 100 overs of batting in their second innings in Melbourne was the lowest (or slowest) in a completed innings by an Australian team at home in almost 40 years.

The Indians, too, have been unable to maintain a high scoring rate during the series and their run rate of 2.66 from three completed innings is only marginally better than Australia's 2.37.

After seemingly everything went his way during a dream campaign last season, facing a relentless and highly disciplined bowling attack that is well supported by intelligent field settings is a fresh challenge Labuschagne concedes he needs to overcome.

"They've certainly come in with a plan ... and made sure they’re really not leaving the stumps and having a really heavy leg side field," Labuschagne said of India's bowling.

"It obviously slows your scoring rate down because those shots you do get on your legs go for one, not four.

"We need to be very disciplined and we also need to come up with ways to put them under pressure."

The slow scoring rates of the Australians was a major talking point following the loss in Melbourne, with skipper Tim Paine conceding his batsmen had been "tentative" and former captain Ricky Ponting telling the hosts "they can't be scared of getting out".

The Australians returned to the nets on what would have been day five of the MCG Test and Labuschagne says the need to put pressure back on the Indian bowlers has already been discussed at length.

"There's definitely talk about rotating the strike and finding your boundary option," he said.

"(They are) the normal things you talk about when facing any bowling attack, and where you can get a little upper hand against a certain bowler at a certain time in the game.

"They're the things we're always talking about and trying to stay on top of, and making sure that when we come in, we are brave enough to take on those options when they arise."

The impending return of dashing opener Warner in Sydney, if he's able to shake off the rust of not having played a first-class match for more than a year, is sure to help. Of the 316 men to have scored at least 2000 runs in Test cricket, Warner's career strike rate of 72.85 places him fifth behind Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist, Kapil Dev and Clem Hill.

Assistant coach Andrew McDonald believes the way both batting units respond after two bowler-dominated Tests to start the series will be part of the ebb and flow of any Test campaign.

"I think the batters will fight back," he said.

"I think anytime early in the series when there’s some clear plans ... the batters start to be able to get around those plans and work through them and come up with new ways.

"That arm wrestle between bat and ball is going to be intriguing going into Sydney where both batting units are under the pump.

"The guys have got a good handle on their games, technically they're in a good space, it'll just be about the method and how they want to score their runs. There will be moments when they attack, there'll be moments where they have to absorb some pressure. I don't think it’s one thing in particular.

"But there's no doubt some of our batters felt as though they could have put more pressure on certain bowlers at certain times."

Australia's strike rates in first two Tests

Tim Paine – 59.58 (career 44.95)

Joe Burns – 50.80 (career 56.39)

Marnus Labuschagne – 41.61 (career 54.92)

Matthew Wade – 39.64 (career 50.25)

Travis Head – 39.24 (career 49.65)

Cameron Green – 29.56 (FC career 49.69)

Steve Smith – 14.70 (career 55.09)

Vodafone Test Series v India 2020-21

Australia Test squad: Tim Paine (c), Sean Abbott, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, James Pattinson, Will Pucovski, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade, David Warner

India Test squad: Virat Kohli (c) (first Test only), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Siraj

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: India won by eight wickets

Third Test: January 7-11, SCG, 10.30am AEDT

Fourth Test: January 15-19, Gabba, 11am AEDT