Travis Head and Steven Smith exuded control and confidence to put Australia in the driver’s seat on Day 2 of the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India on Sunday.
When both teams returned for Tea, Australia’s score stood at 234/3, with Smith and Head unbeaten with scores of 65(149) and 103(118), respectively.
While the first session was arguably shared by both sides, the second completely belonged to Australia, courtesy of Head’s blistering century.
Smith and Head continued with their crusade of piling up runs on the board as the wicket flattened out over time. The wicket slowly turned into a batting paradise Head took the brunt on his shoulder of swiftly garnering runs.
The elite member of the ‘Fab Four,’ Smith, became the anchor of their unbeaten partnership, which allowed Head to freely express himself in front of the Indian bowling unit.
Head looked comfortable while navigating the ball towards the offside region by using the bounce to its effective use. He breezed past the 50-run mark and then accelerated for the next fifty.
The southpaw continued to torment India while putting runs on the board at a healthy rate. Smith, on the other end, played his shots according to his will.
Head’s unbeaten 103 wasn’t just a result of boundaries. Strike rotation stood out as a prominent factor throughout his stay at the crease. Out of his 103, he garnered just 52 runs while relying on boundaries, and the rest came out from rotating the strike.
He pushed away Bumrah’s yorker, ran three and celebrated his ninth Test ton and third against India with his trademark celebration. Head’s valiance was lauded by the Indian stalwart Virat Kohli as he went to the Australian to congratulate him for his game-changing effort.
Earlier in the day, a classic battle between the bat and the ball became a sight to behold, with spectators filling in the empty seats at The Gabba.
Akash Deep bowled in tandem with India’s A-Lister Jasprit Bumrah, producing a breathtaking Test cricket spell that left the fans at the edge of their seats.
It was Akash who created pressure from one end and Bumrah who executed his skillset to perfection. Despite his reputation in Test cricket, Usman Khawaja seemingly looked out of his wits while facing Bumrah.
On the other end, McSweeney spent the majority of his time covering his stumps to negate Akash’s deliveries sharply nipping into him.
Runs became scarce as Bumrah and Akash hunted for wickets. The resistance eventually ended when Bumrah forced out an outside edge of Khawaja (21).
Bumrah struck once again and got rid of both openers when McSweeney’s trust in his back-foot defence came back to haunt him. He looked to negate the delivery but didn’t cover his line well. In the process, he gave away a thick outside edge, which flew straight to Virat Kohli, who was stationed at the second slip.
With Australia reduced to 39/2, Steven Smith and Marnus Labuschagne decided to tread with caution. They left deliveries, which landed in the fourth and the fifth stump channels and attacked the ones closer to the leg stump.
As the partnership started to swell, the level of frustration on the field slowly rose in the Indian players simultaneously. With the Indian seamers looking for a breakthrough, Mohammed Siraj thought out of the box and tried to pull off a Stuart Broad by changing the bails on the stumps.
Labuschagne (12) quickly put the bails back into their position, but it wasn’t enough to change his fate. Young Nitish Kumar Reddy tempted Labuschagne to go for a drive shot by pitching his delivery up.
The Australian was lured into the shot but only managed to get a thick outside edge, which once again flew to Kohli. The 37-run partnership ended, and Bumrah came back into the attack with Akash.
Akash notched up and produced some fiery deliveries, especially against Travis Head. After witnessing Akash’s precision, even the Australian southpaw was left with a smile on his face.
The duo managed to see off the rest of the session and ensured Australia didn’t suffer any more casualties.
Brief Score: Australia 234/3 (Steven Smith 65*, Travis Head 103*; Jasprit Bumrah 2-51) vs India. (ANI)
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