Travis headache for India: Adelaide man’s century leaves India on the brink in second BGT Test | Cricket News

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A few weeks ago, Mohammad Siraj approached former India bowling coach Bharat Arun with a specific request: to share tips on cutting balls from left-handed batsmen from around the stumps.

His request was to nail Travis Head. Before the start of the game on Saturday, the two right-handed batsmen batted through the night, with R Ashwin bowling a long ball on the pitch near the main pitch as part of the warm-up. It was all from round the stumps and the ball would come in from the outside as if he was bowling to a left hander.

It seems the Indians were aware that their main nemesis on the day, and possibly the series, was Travis Head.

Their predictions proved correct when Head scored 140 to take Australia to 337 and take a first innings lead of 157 runs. And the Australian bowlers ran through the top order, leaving India at 128/5, trailing by 29 runs.

The home crowd, of course, knew that the main man was the boss. When he came out to bat, he received the biggest cheer any Australian batsman has ever received. After Mohammad Siraj took a wicket on a yorker, if any Indian bowler looked at him or messed with his lips, they would jeer them loudly. Especially the standing crowd on the ‘Hill’, the grass-banked area just in front of the old scoreboard, the least expensive ticket section of the stadium.

Head has the reputation of the ‘daily bloke’ in this country. It doesn’t matter that he just bought a three million dollar house, it’s his personality that makes him appeal to Australian fans. A mustachioed Australian in the 80s, a batsman who struggled to get a place in the team and worked hard to maintain it, who looked like a bloke; No gym-sculpted body or a grand demeanor and air about him – just a regular Aussie bloke, as they call him.

The home fans may have loved him, but bowling to him must be annoying.

unleashing havoc

The head recedes almost in one place, around the legs and middle, mainly on the hind legs, crushing himself in that area as if he is traveling in a crowded unreserved compartment of an Indian train and there is no room. But he wreaks such havoc from there, slashing, carving, stabbing, punching.

He may not be a classical batsman, but he is a batsman with a very specific and conscious method. Placing himself there, he pulls the bowlers into place and does this illusionary magic. A ball on the off stump that can cramp most batsmen looks like a width to him. Even Jasprit Bumrah fell into its trap, sometimes thinking he might hit the off-stump, but win as a head, without the traditional kind of foot movement but maintaining balance and springing with the flex of his knee, would cut him from backward point. The hand just flies.

Then there is another effect like Siraj did. Seeing him in that space, the logical thought is to throw something really full – fuller than the other batsmen’s length. And the head quickly proceeds to cream it perfectly through the off side.

The way he handled Ashwin, it happened too. On a windy Adelaide day, the Indian offspinner’s main weapon was to use the wind and throw the ball in. Often releasing the ball between his thumb and forefinger, he would let the ball go outside or around the outside. Again and again, the head would push back to push it. And suddenly, he proceeds to blast a full length ball. Or charge down the track to crash-land them into the stands. But all this free-flowing attack inevitably comes from that support movement.

For all his balls hitting the fours, Head is a batsman who needs and believes in that method. Whenever he is disturbed by this, he advises himself. He doesn’t do that if he misses the cut in what looks like a full length ball. He’s not worried because that’s what he wants to do. But if he has a flash on the ball that doesn’t suit his method, he can be seen humming.

In the days leading up to the Perth Test, he had batted for hours, over multiple sessions each day, in the nets, so much so that Australian journalists often wanted to polish off some part of him when they saw him in the nets. the game In the first innings, Harshit Rana produced a beauty that rattled the off-stump too late from round the stumps.

Rana’s head was particularly severe in Adelaide. His method served up a stream of balls that resembled meat, he cut, drove and pulled. What is short for other batsmen is short for him, because of the position he ends up in. And Rana couldn’t adjust that day and ran out.

Once he reached his hundred, the trademark helmet-over-the-bat-handle celebration came out, and he soaked in the moment, roaming all over the field. And then started his next attack with a tweak. Where he used to punch, he started spreading his shots to go higher and higher with his hands – be it Bumrah or Siraj.

Siraj hit a stunning six off one ball before being dismissed. It was a very good delivery, on middle and leg from a good length, trying to cramp him for room, but he somehow managed to get it to the square-leg boundary. Siraj stood there and watched with his hand on his mouth.

The next ball was a yorker that dipped under the blade to hit the stumps, and Siraj screamed in celebration. Head looked on, and said something to the bowler as Siraj squealed with joy. Siraj angrily pointed towards the dressing room and said something.

After an over, Siraj, who had to field near the boundary, started to get booed by the crowd and waved his arms up and down while smiling. The Indian section cheered, the Australian section cheered even more. It was a minor event compared to the main box office show of the day: Head Slaying the Indians.

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