Travis Head’s ton, Smith’s fifty put Australia in command

by Sahil Jain
Travis Head, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli

After a testing first session, Australia came out all guns blazing at the Gabba on day two. Travis Head continued his imperious form and smashed his second successive hundred. Steve Smith helped himself to a fighting half-century as the Indian bowlers toiled away hard.

Jasprit Bumrah started the session with a probing over. He beat Smith on the outside edge before inducing an inside-edge which just missed the stumps and went past Rishabh Pant. The Australia No. 4’s luck continued as Akash Deep beat him on the outside edge on numerous instances. The Bengal pacer consistently hit the right lines and lengths but he just couldn’t get the breakthrough.  

At the other end, Head kept the scoreboard ticking. He rotated strike nicely and got boundaries at regular intervals.  

Rohit Sharma introduced spin for the first time in the innings in the 49th over. Ravindra Jadeja who was playing his first game of the series bowled a poor first over before keeping things tight in the next couple of overs. But Head went after him, hitting him over the top twice in a row in the left-arm spinner’s fourth over.

Head gets to his second consecutive hundred

Travis Head - 100 vs India - Gabba
Travis Head – 100 vs India – Gabba

The South Australian left-hander soon brought up his third consecutive 50+ score. It came off 71 balls. Smith kept battling away before getting to just his second Test half-century of 2024.

Head found the boundary more regularly in the second hour as he started shifting the pressure back on India. The 30-year-old hit Mohammed Siraj for four boundaries in the space of four overs. The Hyderabad-born pacer conceded 30 runs in his five-over spell in the session as India started to lose control.  

Head reached the 100-run landmark in the final over before Tea. It was his 3rd ton against India and second on the trot. Smith started to look a lot more comfortable as the session went on. He struck a few classy boundaries towards the end. He has moved to 65 and seems hungry for more.

Australia scored 130 runs in 27 overs in that second session. Smith and Head have already added 159 runs for the third wicket and things are looking ominous for the Rohit Sharma-led side. 

The new ball is still 10 overs away. India desperately need a breakthrough else the game could slip away very quickly with Head and Smith in sublime and threatening form.

KEY PERFORMANCES: Australia 234/3 (Travis Head 104*, Steve Smith 65*, Jasprit Bumrah 2/26, Nitish Kumar Reddy 1/16) vs India. 

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