WTC Final 2023: Travis Head shines with game-changing century against India

India are taking on Australia in the WTC Final 2023 and the match is being played at the Oval. India chose to bowl first after winning the toss and the pacers provided an early breakthrough for them.

But despite India’s early dominance, Australian batter Travis Head and Steve Smith have slowly but steadily taken the game away from India in the second session of the first day. The pair have already added 162 runs for the 4th wicket and have taken the game away from India.

Travis Head especially has played a sublime knock so far and has changed the momentum completely. The left-handed batter came after Marnus Labuschagne was cleaned up by Mohammed Shami. Australia were 76/3 and Rohit Sharma and his boys were on top of the Kangaroos.

Head came in and so far has batted in a fantastic manner. His aggressive approach loosened India’s grip early in the second session and the batter kept on playing his shots and continued to tick the scoreboard.

Head scored 26 runs off just 17 balls to dismantle India’s dominance in the match. And after that, he has taken a much calmer approach and was on 60 off 75 balls at Tea.

And after Tea, the batter took the aggressive root again and completed his 6th Test century at the biggest stage of red ball cricket. The century is also Head’s first Test ton outside Australia, and it came at a crucial stage.

Head’s hundred came off 106 balls, at a stellar strike rate of 94 which included 14 fours and one six.

CENTURY IN THE WTC FINAL FOR TRAVIS HEAD…!!

What a crazy innings by Head. A hundred in just 106 balls. He absolutely took on the Indian attack and put on a show at the Oval. pic.twitter.com/aji96TEhuq

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 7, 2023

The beauty of his inning has been the pace. Head’s excellent scoring rate has propelled Australia’s run-scoring and India’s stranglehold was diluted within just a few overs in the second session. It started as a well-curated counter attack, and now continues to forge a solid platform for the Aussies.

Smith also completed his fifty and is looking good on 53. The Australian batter’s sublime record on English soil continues as his industrious inning has played a crucial part.

Earlier Usman Khawaja was picked up by Mohammed Siraj in the 4th over of the match. Khawaja, who has scored the most number of runs for Australia in this WTC cycle, was gone for a duck. Just before lunch, Shardul Thakur picked up the wicket of David Warner as Australia were 73/2 at Lunch.

At Tea of Day 1, Australia are 238/3 and looking solid after their early stutters, and Travis Head has been the main architect of their upsurge on the first day.