Travis Head took the Indian bowling attack to the cleaners on Day 1 of WTC 2023 final.
Asked to bat first, Australia were in a spot of bother at 76/3 when Head arrived in the middle. The southpaw batted fearlessly to notch up his century in 106 balls. He finished the opening day on 146 not out off 156 balls, helping the Aussies post 327/3 on the board.
In the process, Head was involved in an unbroken 251-run partnership with Steve Smith, who returned with 95 not out.
After the close of play on Day 1, former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting heaped praise on Travis Head, terming the left-hander as the modern-day Adam Gilchrist.
"He probably is (similar to Gilchrist). In fact he is probably scoring quicker now than Gilly probably ever did. His strike-rate through this (World Test Championship) qualification period is 81, which is higher than anyone else in the world to have scored more than 500 runs,” Ponting told the ICC.
"His confidence is growing by the game, his strike-rate keeps going up, he hits boundaries early on in his innings which puts pressure back on the bowlers which is what you want from your middle order players, and his last two years have been quite remarkable," he added.
According to Ponting, Indian pacers erred with their length early against Head and they would have been better advised to restrict him from scoring freely.
"I think when he first comes in you need to execute perfectly to him," Ponting noted.
"It is no good trying to over attack him because if you bowl any bad ball, he is going to put it away.
"They will learn by the way they bowled to him in this first innings, and they will definitely adjust in this second innings, but sometimes it is too late."
The No. 1 ranked Test spinner, R Ashwin, was left out of India’s playing XI for the WTC final against Australia.
Considering the overcast conditions and a green-tinged pitch at The Oval, India went with the combination of four pacers and a spinner in Ravindra Jadeja.
Ponting reckons India might regret the decision as the game progresses.
"As this game goes on, I have got no doubt that there is going to be turn," Ponting said.
"Australia have got a lot of left-handers in their batting line-up to which Ashwin would have been perfectly suited for.
"So far for me, it looks like it was a mistake from them by playing the four seamers, but we will see how the game pans out."
(With ICC Inputs)