Ricky Ponting, a famous cricketer from Australia, gave Travis Head a lot of credit after he hit a hundred against India on Day 1 of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2021–23 final at the Oval in London.
David Warner, Usman Khawaja, and Marnus Labuschagne took out 76 runs for the Aussies, which was a big blow. However, Travis Head and Steve Smith kept the game steady with their important innings. At the end of Day 1, the two of them put up a great 251-run partnership. Head’s 22 fours and one six helped him score 146 runs off 156 balls, which was a stellar performance.
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting was so impressed with Travis Head’s hit that he put him in the same group as famous wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist. He also said that the flashy southpaw has kept up a good hit rate, which has helped his confidence grow with each game. Ponting also said that Head has been doing the same thing for the last two years, which is amazing.
“Most likely, he is like Gilchrist. He’s probably scoring goals faster now than Gilly ever did. Ponting told the ICC, “His strike rate during this WTC qualification period is 81, which is higher than anyone else in the world who has more than 500 runs.”
Early in his turn, he hits fours and sixes, which puts pressure on the bowlers. Ponting
“His confidence is growing with every game; his strike rate keeps going up; he hits boundaries early 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 said.
Ponting also said that India’s bowlers will have to do a great job of following their plans when they face Head. He said that the Southpaw likes to hit bad balls, so India will have to come up with something new in the second game.
“When he first comes in, I think you need to do everything correctly. It doesn’t help to attack him too much because he will hit any bad ball you throw. They will learn from how they bowled at him in the first inning, and they will definitely change in the second inning, but sometimes it’s too late,” Ponting said.