NEWS
Follow UsAfter 41 innings across three formats in international cricket, India have finally managed to dismiss Travis Head for a duck. The left-handed batter, who has been a headache for India, registered a duck on day one of the fourth Border-Gavaskar Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 26 (Thursday).
Head walked out to bat at No.5 with Australia’s score reading 237/3. The 30-year-old played out five deliveries of Washington Sundar without any trouble before coming face-to-face against Jasprit Bumrah.
The ace paceman set a leg-side-dominated field for the left-hander, placing two men for short deliveries. The first ball went past Head’s hip, but Bumrah changed his line on the next delivery, hitting the length just outside off. Thinking the ball would miss the off-stump, Head decided to shoulder arms, but the ball came back in and knocked out the bail placed on off and middle stump.
The Indian players couldn’t hide their excitement, and understandably so, considering how Head has tormented them in the last few years. Everyone knows what he did to India in the 2023 World Test Championship final and the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Not to mention the tons in Adelaide and Brisbane.
In nine ODIs against India, Head has 345 runs at an average of 43.13 and a strike rate of 101.8. Even in the 20-over format, the left-hander has 255 runs in eight games @ 36.43 and a strike rate of 150.9. And before today, Head had an average of 49.43 in Test cricket against India.
Head is still the leading run-scorer in this series, with 409 runs at an average of 68.17, including two centuries and a fifty.
