Indian bowlers appeared clueless on the field on Day 2 of the ongoing GaBrisbane, as Travis Head, yet again, smashed a century, continuing his marauding run of form against his ‘favourite’ side. Head and Steve Smith tired out the Indian bowlers, stitching together a magnificent 241-run partnership to put Australia on top in the third of the five-Test series.
After a rain-affected Day 1 at the Gabba, India started the second day on a bright note by putting Australia under pressure, with the hosts at 75/3. However, with the sun out and the ball 33.3 overs old, the Indian bowlers failed to maintain the momentum, allowing both Head and Smith to settle down. The Aussie duo continued to torment the Indian bowlers, registering a 241-run stand. Interestingly, the last time any Australian pair had a 200-run partnership in Test cricket was at the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final, where the same pair had piled misery on the Indian team with a 285-run stand.
“First of all, we can say he (Head)is in pretty good form. When a guy is playing like that, in that fashion, back-to-back innings, we can only give that a lot of credit, but I think for us with the ball, if you look at it from overs 50 to 80, even in the last game, at the moment, is where we sort of falling short, leaking a little bit, so that’s one area I think we need to get better at,” the Indian team’s bowling coach Morne Morkel told reporters at the post-day press conference.
“I think first up with the ball this morning, we were pretty good, at 3 for 70, you put two more on the scoreboard there and you’re right back in the game. But take nothing away from the two world-class players. Steve Smith we know, on the other hand, he is a guy that also can bat and score runs, so they put on a partnership on the board there, put us under pressure with a softer ball, so it’s definitely an area that we need to focus on. Maybe, deeper in the innings, in terms of game plans, yes we have got the game plans, but are we executing those game plans with a softer ball from both ends, that’s something we need to discuss and get better at,” Morkel added.
Head has been a nemesis for India for some time. He scored a century in the WTC final, a ton in the ODI World Cup 2023 final, followed by a half-century in the T20 World Cup. The left-handed batsman scored a century at his home ground, the Adelaide Oval, in the second Test and completed his second consecutive ton at the Gabba by smashing the Indian bowlers all around the park.
Although Head doesn’t have many weaknesses with the bat, he has had some trouble against the short ball, particularly around the third or fourth stump, and also against the deliveries moving away from him in the channel. However, the Indian pacers neither tested him with bouncers nor bowled consistently in the channel. Head continued slashing, driving, flicking and hammering the Indian bowlers on his way to a cracking 152.
Stats shown by the host broadcasters told a story. Among all the bowlers, only Jasprit Bumrah managed to induce a false shot percentage of 20.5 against Head, conceding 33 runs. Against Akash Deep, Head played 14.8 per cent false shots while scoring 19 runs. However, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj were the most erratic against the batsman, managing only 14.5 per cent and 8.6 per cent false shots respectively, while giving away 44 and 34 runs.
Explaining the plan against Head, Morkel said: “Our plan going into this game was to bowl a little bit more over the wicket, just to bowl a straighter line, we felt he played it quite nicely in Adelaide when we came around, but still as an individual bowler you need to back your strength. I think you need to sum up the conditions, what the ball is doing, what the wicket is doing, we were quite lucky that all day there was a little bit of bounce, so yeah the margins to him are just so small.
“Maybe, slowing down the scoring rate because you know he is going to be aggressive, what is the best way of bringing a little bit of control into the game and like I said from over 50 with that softer ball at the moment, that’s where we are leaking at the moment and that’s the phase that we need to get better at. So that stuff was happening, but when Head comes on, the pitch kind of feels like they’re bowling on a different wicket.”
It was surprising to see the Indian bowlers not devise a concrete plan to dismiss Head early, despite having so much data and analytics at their disposal. While the bowlers looked clueless, the responsibility also fell on captain Rohit Sharma, bowling coach Morkel and the Gautam Gambhir-led coaching staff to come up with a strategy to get Head out.
When Bumrah finally dismissed him, it was a muted celebration as the ace Indian pacer raised both arms and kind of breathed a sigh of relief. But the damage was done.
Australia ended Day 2 on 405/7. From here, the hosts are favourites to win the Gabba Test, though rain might yet save the Indian team. There’s a 40 to 50 per cent chance of precipitation for the remainder of the three days in East Brisbane.
