‘Old school’ secret behind Head resurgence; Smith’s strange weakness: Talking Pts

A century from hometown hero Travis Head has put Australia within range of squaring the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after Day 2 of the second Test in Adelaide.

Watch every ball of Australia v India LIVE & ad-break free during play in 4K on Kayo | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.

In a stunning turnaround from the first Test in Perth, India are on the ropes at 5-128 – still staring down a 29-run deficit.

Here’s the big Talking Points from Day 2.

TRAVIS ‘HEADACHE’ WREAKS HAVOC AGAINST INDIA AGAIN

Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri has a way with words and his assessment of Head, at least from an Indian viewpoint, was word perfect on Saturday.

When marvelling at the audacious innings from the South Australian, whose 140 separated Australia from India in terms of first innings scores, Shastri quipped the left-hander had earned the nickname “Headache” in India given his exploits.

In the World Test Championship decider at The Oval 18 months ago, Head was brilliant in the opening innings when scoring 163 runs from 174 balls in a match Australia ultimately won by 209 runs.

In the ODI World Cup Final last November, Head was again the wrecker, with his 137 from 120 balls at the top of the order enabling Australia to secure the prized crown.

Then, in front of his home town and with Australia under pressure after its flop in Perth to start the series, Head delivered again to the raucous applause of a sell-out home crowd, who loved every minute of the innings.

They were less pleased with Mohammed Siraj, who bowled Head with a yorker and then issued a send-off, with the feisty Indian fast bowler booed at every turn from then on by the partisan home state fans.

But as Australian great Adam Gilchrist, a fellow left-hander who wielded the willow with similar dash and dare, noted, the end of the innings is not the thing that will be remembered in years to come.

“The big story and the one you will read about tomorrow on the back page, front page and every other page of the Adelaide Advertiser will be Travis Head, “ Gilchrist said.

“It was his third century on his home ground and it was a wonderful innings. He picked up 50 off 63 balls and then, by the time he had faced 111, he had scored a century that every person in this ground will remember for quite a while.

“To do it in front of his wife and his newborn Harrison, that was quite a moment. It is another addition to the 100 mark for Travis Head.”

In securing his third straight century in a Test match at Adelaide Oval, following his 119 against the West Indies earlier this year and the 175 he made against the combined Caribbean nations a year earlier as well.

Champion Australian fast bowler Brett Lee told foxsports.com.au he is far from surprised that Head is able to excel on the biggest stages.

“That is the style of critter that he is. He’s almost old school. And what I mean by that (is that) he doesn’t get overawed by the situation,” Lee said.

“He likes to score freely. And sometimes you know when you’re up against a world class attack — and certainly look at Jasprit Bumrah with his numbers, his figures, his longevity already, he’s arguably the best bowler in the world currently — but you wouldn’t know that the way that Travis has played.

“He just batted out of his skin because he looked to score. He was aggressive. The intent was there.”

Former England international Isa Guha said Head played Adelaide Oval like a rock band returning to their favourite city.

the nature of the ground as well. It really suits him, the fact that they’re short, square boundaries, and that really plays into his strengths. “I think when you’re comfortable coming to a ground and you feel like you know it really well, maybe you just relax you a touch,” she said.

“And I think when you’ve got a crowd behind you like that, where you pretty much know that everyone’s there to support you, it’s like when you have as a band, I’m sure it must be the same feeling as when you have a gig and you know that people have bought tickets just to see you. That’s must be the same feeling for Travis Head. And so I think that can only be a good thing, really.”

Speaking of rock, Lee loved Head’s “rocking the baby” celebration, stating it demonstrated the Aussie was in a happy place in his life on and off the field.

“It is third 100 here (in) Adelaide and he loves playing in front of his home crowd, and you could just see the relief on his face,” Lee said. “And after his 100, he starts the ‘rocking the baby’ celebration, so that that tells me he’s happy on and off the field and that’s a really important message, I think, because other players go through different things and they have different moments of their life.

“But if you’re settled off the field generally, and you’re backing yourself and your confidence is up generally, it can actually lead onto the field. It’s almost a tribute he was showing that to his wife and his young child, because they ride the highs and lows with you, and it’s a team effort, not only just on the field, but also with their families.”

THE BUMRAH BLUEPRINT

As Adam Gilchrist assessed the wreckage from an Australian perspective in Perth, he did cite one potential positive the hosts could take from Western Australia when it came to the effectiveness of Jasprit Bumrah.

After Head, Mitch Marsh and Alex Carey batted well in the second innings in WA, Gilchrist said that provided the Aussies could survive the initial onslaught from the Indian champion, it might be possible to mount a challenge with the bat.

“The thing we showed, to a lesser extent — and I don’t see this as a weakness for India — but it certainly highlighted just how impactful Bumrah is,” Gilchrist said in Perth.

“He’s been very well supported by (Mohammed) Siraj and (Harshit) Rana to this point of this game, but it just showed a little snapshot of just how reliant they are on Bumrah to make an impact.

“Thinking big picture, Australia will be able to take some sort of information away that … if they can wait him out and lessen the damage, lighten the damage that he inflicts, though they might go a fair way to batting deeper in innings and creating a contest.”

And so it proved, for the ability of Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne to survive on Friday night proved critical to allowing Australia to prosper courtesy of Head on Saturday.

Halfway through the second session, Bumrah began to cramp and while Siraj was able to knock over the tail after securing the wicket of Head, it is clear that India has a reliance on its premier paceman.

“Other bowlers can be like a new ball bowler and they can bowl a bit at the death but Bumrah, unfortunately for Australia, he bowls well in all conditions and he bowls well with any ball in his hand, whether it’s white, red, pink,” Lee said.

“But he’s definitely the most effective, as all fast bowlers are, with that brand new ball in his hand. So Gilly is right. If you can get yourself through that brand new ball with it, with that hard lacquer on it where it does shape around … there’s definitely hope.

“That is when you can cash in. You can put the emphasis on the older ball and you can put more pressure on Bumrah with the ball that’s 15 overs old as opposed to the brand new one. Like anything, if you just get through that tough period, then you can cash in.”

SMITH’S BIZARRE WEAKNESS

How do you get Steve Smith out?

Yorkers? Bouncers? Target the stumps? In the channel on a good length?

The numbers suggest not.

According to the CricViz boffins, since the start of 2019 in Tests in Australia, Smith has averaged just 22 when pace bowlers stray down the leg side.

During that same period, he has averaged 29.3 in the corridor outside off. Therefore, quicks have been more likely to dismiss the Australian by bowling down the leg side rather than targeting the corridor of uncertainty or even the stumps.

In the first innings at Adelaide Oval, Smith was dismissed by Indian vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah after tickling a delivery down leg, with wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant accepting the catch to his left.

The New South Welshman threw his head back in disbelief before trudging back to the sheds.

“(It is a) horrible way to get out. (That is) terrible for a batsman,” former Australian bowler Brett Lee said on Fox Cricket commentary.

He later declared his belief that all the champion batter needed was for his luck to change, sensing he has a big innings in him this summer. Although Smith’s innings was brief, Lee was happy to see how still he was at the crease when facing Bumrah.

“I mean, you play that shot 1000 times and you might nick one that fine. You have to play that shot. You are committed to play that stroke because you can’t let it hit you. It’s just bad luck,” he said.

“He just needs (some) good luck. We saw the dismissal from the first innings in Perth where he stepped across and his head looked really still. Steve Smith is a busy cricketer. But it was that extra bit of movement he was doing walking across the crease.

“But he looked like he tightened that up today and I thought he was in for a big one. It was a bit of bad luck, which happens, but you don’t change your style. That’s just the rub of the green.”

However, former Indian coach Ravi Shastri, who mentored the touring side during historic triumphs in 2018/19 and 2020/21, revealed the dismissal wasn’t as unlucky as it appeared, stating he believed India was targeting the area.

“You imagine the batsman feels he’s unlucky but it’s a plan. It is a tactic they have used against Smith and it has paid off,” Shastri said.

It is a point Guha agrees with as well and said wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant deserved praise for being alert to the prospect.

“A lot of opposition teams do set that plan to him, so I don’t think they would have been too surprised about it,” she said.

“The angle that’s created, you always feel like you’re in the game if you are Jasprit Bumrah because of the extra bounce that he gets, so it was excellent work from Rishabh Pant to be aware of that.

“I think it’s two things, really. It might not have been that the plan that they originally wanted to go with, but (it is) not a surprise that they got him out in that way.”

MITCH MAKES A MEAL OF IT

It was the step that betrayed Mitch Marsh at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.

Pitted against an old adversity in Ravindra Ashwin, the Western Australian played with no conviction whatsoever before effectively gifting his wicket with a false step and guilty look.

There are a problems with this. The most pressing is that on all available evidence, Marsh may not have feathered the delivery from Ashwin to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant when on 9.

Pant scarcely looked convinced. Travis Head told the umpire there was a gap between the bat and ball. And the rocking and rolling of the video footage and snicko provided no proof.

The replays did, however, show Marsh making firm contact with his own pad. Was it a brain fade from the Bison? As Adam Gilchrist noted, all the chat mattered for nought.

“You can’t give that out on the view, but Marsh was obviously convinced that he had nicked it,” the Fox Cricket analyst said.

“But it doesn’t matter how much we dissect it, or what we think now. If you read the paper tomorrow, it will say ‘Caught Pant. Bowled Ashwin’.”

WAITING ON THE ALL CLEAR

India is sweating on Mohammed Shami’s fitness after the national pace bowling depth was tested on day two of the Adelaide Test.

Harshit Rana was superb on Test debut in Perth last week, taking three wickets in the first innings as Australia suffered a horror collapse. However, the right-armed seamer has since taken 1-155 across two innings, conceding 5.38 runs per over in the South Australian capital on Saturday.

While Rana has been impressive in bursts, India would have much preferred having veteran quick Shami in their starting XI.

The 34-year-old is on the mend after sustaining a knee injury last year. He played a Ranji Trophy match for Bengal last month, taking seven wickets in a tense victory over Madhya Pradesh.

Shami is currently representing Bengal in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, picking up eight wickets in seven matches, but the BCCI is awaiting results from the National Cricket Academy before jetting him across to Australia.

“The selection committee is waiting for the NCA’s fitness clearance report on Shami. He travelled to Bengaluru to give a fitness test,” a BCCI official said in a statement, as reported by the Indian Express.

“He played the Ranji Trophy as well as the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, where he looked good. His kit is also ready. We are just waiting for the approval from the NCA.”

According to a Cricbuzz report, the best-case scenario would be Shami touching down ahead of the MCG Boxing Day Test – but that remains unlikely.

Shami was instrumental during India’s historic triumph on Australian soil in 2018/19, taking 16 wickets at 26.18, including a six-wicket haul in Perth. He was also the leading wicket-taker during last year’s World Cup in India with 24 scalps at 10.70.

Bowler rotation could be required for the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy campaign, with only three days separating the ongoing Adelaide contest and Gabba Test – India’s bowling stocks could be tested further over the coming weeks.

And on Saturday afternoon, vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah sent a scare through the Indian camp after pulling up sore following a delivery, needing medical attention on the field.

Without Bumrah or Shami, India’s bowling attack won’t seem anywhere near as menacing. Which is why Fox Cricket expert analyst Isa Guha would have him on the plane ASAP, if the fitness report is clear.

“He offers excellent seam movement. He is a quality fast bowler. And he keeps coming at you,” she said.

“Depending on how injured he is, he’s somebody who can bowl long spells and he can bowl a good bouncer. He’s got that versatility. He can pitch the ball up as well. He can bowl the hard length on bouncy wickets. So I think he’s someone that offers so much to this Indian side.”

Brett Lee, too, is a fan of the 34-year-old, stating his improvement as he has matured has been remarkable.

“He’s world class. Talk about a guy that’s improved with age. He’s probably fitter now than when he first started. He’s (definitely) a lot smarter now than when he first started and that’s only because of the experience,” he said.

“People say, ‘How do you become a more intelligent bowler? How do you become smarter with this experience?’ Well, you are bowling in conditions that you may not be used to when you first start out and you tour different countries. He’s been here so many times and he’s played all around the world. And he’s world class.

“As soon as he’s ready to be on the first plane, he has to be on it. And that is no disrespect to the other bowlers either, because I have enjoyed watching them.”