The Australia no. 5 batted with comfort and consistently scored to achieve his sixth Test tonne in just 106 balls.
Travis Head delivered an outstanding performance on the first day of the World Test Championship final between Australia and India. The Australia no. 5 batted with comfort and consistently scored to achieve his sixth Test tonne in just 106 balls. Head became the first cricketer in history to strike a century in a World Test Championship final.
Earlier, Australia reached 170 for three at lunch on day one of the World Test Championship final against India with to Travis Head’s counterattacking 60 off 75 balls and Steve Smith’s calm 33 in brilliant sunlight. After Australia found themselves under pressure shortly after the lunch break with the fall of Marnus Labuschagne (26 off 62), Head played in his trademark manner and attacked the Indian pacers.
After lunch, Mohammed Shami, who wasn’t at his best during the morning session, bowled a stunning delivery to jar Labuschagne’s off-stump. The off stump was clipped by the whole ball as it jagged back in from the fourth stump.
In order to put pressure back on India, Head joined Smith in the middle and smashed a flurry of boundaries against Shami and Mohammed Siraj. He was equally as fast to flip anything aimed at his pads and similarly nimble with cut shots.
Head hit the half-century mark in his 14th Test with a precise backfoot punch against Shardul Thakur. In his seven overs, Ravindra Jadeja, who entered the game in the 39th over, barely lost anything.
Near the conclusion of the session, Umesh Yadav was called in, but he failed to make a breakthrough.
In the session, Australia scored 97 runs off of 28 overs.
Prior to Thakur’s dismissal of a well-positioned David Warner to reduce Australia to 73 for two at lunch, Siraj had blown fire in his first stint.
Warner (43 off 60) and Labuschagne were on track to finish the session at The Oval after enduring difficult conditions in the opening hour. Thakur, though, dismissed the left-handed opener with a short ball that was aimed at his rib cage. KS Bharat, the wicketkeeper, grabbed a great catch down the leg-side. India chose to bowl under cloudy skies on a surface with some grass, as was to be expected. It was a difficult decision to exclude Ravichandran Ashwin from the starting lineup in favour of a four-pronged pace assault with Shami, Siraj, Yadav, and Thakur.
Bowling with a scrambled seam allowed Siraj to make better use of the surface than Shami did. Usman Khawaja (0 off 10) started the trip off in a disappointing fashion after getting a thin edge off a delivery that pitched outside the off stump and sailed away. Khawaja has an average record in England.
He suffered the price for playing away from the body because his feet barely moved, and Bharat took the nick easily from behind the stumps.
Warner battled with guts and grabbed chances whenever he was given breadth because he has something to show in this game and wants to guarantee his position in the starting XI for the forthcoming Ashes.
After a captivating first hour, India let up, giving Warner enough of scoring chances against Umesh Yadav, who produced four boundaries off the bowler in the 15th over.
For Labuschagne, the going was much harder after Siraj delivered a savage blow to his left thumb. He was able to survive two near DRS lbw decisions off Thakur’s bowling later in the session.
As is customary in England, the sun emerged during the second hour, making batting simpler.
Before Warner attempted to pull off a Thakur delivery that was slanted into him and went wide off the crease while going around the wicket due to space constraints, Australia was hoping to conclude the session well.
Bharat delivered a fantastic diving catch to support his selection over Ishan Kishan.
Using PTI inputs
