Head’s hundred burns bright, powers Australia to 332 for eight at dinner

Travis Head (Pic: AFP)

Travis Head continued to be a thorn in India's flesh with a counterattacking 141-ball 140 and powered Australia to a dominant 332 for eight at dinner on the second day of the pink ball Test on Saturday.

Thanks to Head's eighth Test century, which he reached in 111 balls after toying with India's formidable bowling attack, Australia have taken a 152-run first innings lead as they looked to restore parity in the five-match series after the 295-run hammering in the opener at Perth.

Head, who got off the mark with a cracking boundary off Jasprit Bumrah (4/59), got a reprieve on 76 as Mohammed Siraj failed to complete the catch despite getting both hands to it after the batter tried to slog-sweep R Ashwin, having just smashed his third six against the off-spinner.

Amid the rejoicing around Head's century at the Adelaide Oval, Siraj was rewarded for his discipline as he had Alex Carey caught behind following a faint outside edge with Australia's lead crossing 100.

Desperate to prevent Australia from swelling their lead further, India took the second new ball the moment it was made available to them, and their lead pacer Bumrah too was brought back into the attack.

Also Read: Travis Head's masterful ton propels Australia to strong lead in pink-ball Test

Bumrah, however, pulled up and was seen holding his adductor muscle as the physio attended to him. Fortunately for India, Bumrah was up on his feet quickly and ready to bowl again, even as Head flicked him for two boundaries in between.

During his knock, Head played some incredible shots, including a pick-up six over Siraj over deep square leg, but the pacer had the last laugh as he brought his innings to an end when he cleaned him up with a yorker.

In all, Head struck 17 fours and four sixes.

Earlier, Rohit Sharma giving his strike bowler Bumrah only four overs in the first session was a bit strange, and so were some of his field placements. Then, in another surprising move, he started the proceedings after tea with Ravichandran Ashwin instead of the fast bowlers.

Luck, though, was with Ashwin as Mitchell Marsh decided to walk off despite an half-baked appeal by the Indian team.

Seeing Marsh heading in the direction of the dressing room, Richard Illingworth raised his finger too, but replays clearly showed there was a gap between bat and pad.

Unperturbed by all these, Head went about his task in the manner he does best -- dictating the terms to the bowlers with his free-flowing strokes.

None of the Indian bowlers, including Bumrah, looked like they could cause problems for Head.

Also Read: Faster than light! Did Mohammed Siraj actually bowl the fastest ball in history?

Straight after tea, the aggressive left-hander employed a late cut against Bumrah to send the ball in the gap between gully and backward point. And he continued in same vein until he was dismissed.

This was after Marnus Labuschagne regained form with a composed half-century.

Labuschagne (64), whose place in the team was debated prior to this game owing to his prolonged lean run with the bat, registered his 26th half-century and then launched himself into a flurry of boundaries in what were worrying signs for India.

But promising all-rounder Nitish Reddy cut short Labuschagne's innings as the batter tried to guide him through gully only for Yashasvi Jaiswal to hold on to the sharp catch.

Looking to fight their way back into the game after Australia's dominance on the opening day, India got an early breakthrough through who else but Bumrah.

Playing in only his second Test after a forgettable debut in Perth, Nathan McSweeney had no answer to one of many excellent deliveries from Bumrah, which straightened a fraction after landing on the perfect length and all the batter could do was get a little nick while trying to defend after getting stuck on the crease.

Steve Smith's poor run of form continued as the former captain got out in the most unfortunate fashion. Smith looked to flick a Bumrah delivery tickling down the leg side but only ended up edging it to the keeper Rishabh Pant who completed a neat catch diving to his left.

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