First ball or last ball of his innings, Travis Head, the Australian opener, seems to have one game-plan —give the ball an almighty thump. The game-changing knock against South Africa in the World Cup semi-final at Eden Gardens further epitomized Head’s ability to break open a game with a volley of shots.
On occasions, he threw the kitchen sink at the ball, as mistimed shots rocketed through backward point and mid-wicket regions. The upshot of Head’s pyrotechnics at the top of the order was it negated the early threat of South African pacers finding some seam movement. Incidentally, the third ball bowled by Marco Jansen snaked back in appreciably, but after that the South African pace duo wilted due to the stream of boundaries clubbed by David Warner and Head.
By the time Head had reached his fifty, Australia were 91 for 2 in the 12th over. Thereon, Australia just needed to play sensibly, as they had to score at a rate of less than three per over. Two months ago, Head had done something similar against the same opponent with a blazing 36-ball 64 in Bloemfontein.
Unfortunately for Head, in the same series, Gerlad Coetzee, the South African speedster, smashed his hand. Scans later revealed it was a fracture. For a few days, it even seemed as if Head could miss out on most of the World Cup, but he was back playing for Australia in their fifth match of the tournament against New Zealand. And it was business as usual as he composed a quick-fire hundred. It just goes to show that he is in good space and knows exactly his role, which is to put the opposition under pressure.
Head took the minor setback in the right spirit. “He (Coetzee) did me a favour, I got four weeks at home with the family, so I got refreshed to come back. And hopefully, I can be refreshed and energised and can perform at the back end of the tournament. It might be a blessing in disguise,” he had said during the course of the World Cup.
This is a brief description of how Head has made himself into a valued member of the Australian side. But is there any chink in his armour that India can exploit in the all-important final in Ahmedabad? If you just pore through some of the videos of his batting, there could be a couple of weaknesses to examine.
Head’s template is basically to look for any kind of room outside the off-stump, with an eye to crack the cut or slash. If a paceman ends up bowling too straight, he brings out the whip. There is a theory going around that the short ball troubles Head. But even when it comes to the short ball, he has shown time and again that he can stay slightly leg-side of the ball and hit across the line.
In other words, Head’s back foot doesn’t load up much and stays around leg-stump. So, if a bowler aims for a short ball from over the wicket and the line is just away from Head’s hitting zone, he frees his arms and slogs across the line.
From that perspective, it would be better for the pace bowler to shift to a round the wicket angle and cramp Head for room. A case in point would be Mark Wood bowling to him in the Ashes 2023. In the crucial third Test at Headingley, he was clobbered for a few runs when he attempted to bounce out Head from over the wicket. The fast bowler had given Head an opportunity to free his arms.
Perhaps, Wood’s muscle memory made him recall the way he had dismissed the same batter in the Hobart Test a year earlier with a bumper. But on that occasion, the snorter was middle and leg-lined and it gave Head no room to ramp or hoick across the line. Just that it is relatively easier to tuck up a batter from round the wicket.
In the second innings of the Old Trafford Test, he rectified that small error by bouncing out Head from round the wicket. The line was near-perfect with the ball angled into Head, cramping him for room. The short ball was neither too high nor too short but aimed right at Head’s helmet. On that occasion, Head’s back foot ended up way outside the leg-stump as he awkwardly spooned a catch to gully.
Stuart Broad also decided to employ round the wicket angle. His length was slightly different — fuller and good length deliveries — but the basic plan was similar. When he ushered in a fuller length delivery from round the wicket, on Day 2 of the Oval Test, Head whipped one through mid-on.
He subsequently shortened his length by a smidgen and tempted Head to edge one behind by bowling a fourth stump line. Once more, Head’s back foot didn’t load up and his front foot got stuck. Even in the ongoing World Cup, Naveen-ul-Haq, the Afghanistan pace spearhead, used similar tactics — a good length delivery angled in from round the wicket to take the edge of Head’s bat.
So, which Indian pace bowler would be trusted by the think-tank to bowl at not just Head, but also his opening partner, Warner? The answer has to be the man of the moment, Mohammed Shami. The way Shami has attacked left-handers from round the wicket is almost Glenn McGrath-esque.
Shami seems to locate the exact line and length while bowling to each and every left-hander. He also invariably gets the ball to nibble by regularly hitting the seam. His awe-inspiring stats against left-handers in this World Cup read as follows: 52 balls, 8 wickets at an average of just four. The New Zealand team was the latest to bow down to Shami, with Rachin Ravindra, Tom Latham and Devon Conway falling victims to his successful tools.
In this World Cup, India have opened the bowling with Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj. But for the summit clash, it could very well be Bumrah and Shami, considering that the opposition has two left-handers at the top. India could also bring into play R Ashwin for the final. The experienced off-spinner has removed Head thrice in six Tests.
Undoubtedly, Warner and Head are two bedrocks of the Australian batting unit. Head, in particular, has been playing with flourish in the last couple of years. He doesn’t just average 54.61 with the bat in ODIs since the start of 2021, but he compiles his runs at a strike rate of 123.18. Even in Test cricket, he has played whirlwind knocks on tricky decks during that period of time.
The outcome of the eagerly awaited contest between India’s enviable pace attack and Australia’s openers could very well turn out to be a game-breaking moment of the final.