3rd Test
Day-2 Afternoon Session Highlights:
Travis Head’s ton has helped the Australia team to recover after early setbacks
At The Tea of Day-2:
Australia scored 234/3 (1st Innings) vs India.
Travis Head continued his dominance over India, registering his third century in six innings against them to put Australia in a commanding position at Tea on the second day of the Brisbane Test.
Head (103*) achieved his second consecutive hundred of the series, and his unbeaten partnership of 159 with a determined Steve Smith (65*) lifted the hosts to 234 for 3.
This put further pressure on Rohit Sharma’s decision at the toss, as the pitch had proven to be favorable for batting so far.
In stark contrast to the slower-paced opening session, the post-lunch period saw Head and Smith capitalize on a 43-over-old ball.
The duo added 54 runs in the first hour without taking unnecessary risks as the Indian captain rotated his bowlers in search of a breakthrough.
Bumrah bowled just two overs at the start, beating Smith on both edges but watching Head ramp an attempted short ball over the slip cordon for four.
Akash Deep switched ends but continued to struggle, drawing false shots without finding an edge.
At one point, he beat Smith with two consecutive deliveries and then struck his pads with an angled delivery.
India reviewed in hope, but the ball’s trajectory was shown to be missing the stumps.
At the other end, Head faced little threat from India and quickly added to his tally, reaching his third consecutive 50+ score in the series.
Rohit had positioned a deep point for Head, but despite saving a few boundaries, Head found other ways to score.
Ravindra Jadeja was brought on after the 48th over, but with little spin, Head took advantage, hitting the left-arm spinner over mid-off for two boundaries.
Head accelerated soon after reaching his half-century, taking apart Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj.
He scored 31 off 40 balls from Jadeja, while Siraj’s five-over spell cost 30 runs.
Siraj attempted short balls, but they were ineffective, with Head ramping the deliveries over the slip cordon or pulling them for boundaries between two fielders on the leg side.
The spread-out field allowed Head to collect easy singles and keep the scoreboard ticking, while the Indian bowlers seemed to be waiting for the second new ball.
Smith reached his half-century off 128 balls, but Head needed just 44 deliveries to go from 50 to 100, piling more pressure on India in a session where they failed to take a wicket.
Earlier, in an engaging and extended morning session, India’s bowlers had conceded only 76 runs at 2.56 per over, while claiming three top-order wickets.
Bumrah was the standout performer, maintaining his dominance over the Australian openers, against whom he now boasts an average of 4.28 and a total of seven dismissals.
He beat Usman Khawaja on both edges, with a fuller delivery that straightened to find the edge.
Nathan McSweeney fell to a similar delivery, slightly shorter, off only his sixth ball faced.
Marnus Labuschagne added 37 with Smith before falling to all-rounder Nitish Reddy for the second time in the series.
Labuschagne attempted an expansive shot to a full delivery but only managed to edge it to Virat Kohli at second slip.
Smith survived a couple of close LBW calls before the session ended, while Head began his innings strongly, eventually turning the tide in Australia’s favor after lunch.
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