Travis Head becomes only 5th batter ever to score century in an ODI World Cup final

Travis Head weathered the storm brought to him by the Indian pace unit at the start of the Australian chase to bring up his fifth One Day International (ODI) century in the final of the World Cup against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Head survived many close calls, especially against Jasprit Bumrah in the initial few overs. The pacer beat his edge many a time, but the southpaw rode his luck to settle into the proceedings and take the attack to the Indian bowlers once he got his eye in.

Head brought up his ton in deliveries, bossing the chase with timely boundaries and timely rotation of strike. Despite the shaky start, Head was a sight to savour afterwards, exploring all parts of the ground with his powerful strikes.

He ensured that he never let the pressure of the chase get too much to handle for the visitors, putting away the bad deliveries and depositing them into the stands. One of the examples of the same was the time when he slog swept Kuldeep Yadav for a maximum over deep mid wicket, after the leg spinner had pulled off a neat over until that point in time.

Head came into this tournament after having overcome a left hand injury that he suffered in the tour to South Africa prior to the World Cup. The fact that he missed more than half of the group stage matches did not entice Australia to seek a replacement. They instead waited for him to return, and Head responded to that by scoring a superb ton against New Zealand in his very first game on return.

In the semi-final, he turned heads with his off-spinning skills, dismissing Heinrich Klaasen and Marco Jansen before scoring 61 against South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Head embraced the challenge that came with overcoming a major injury setback so near to the quadrennial competition, and Australia reaped the reward of trusting him through those tough times.

First Published: Nov 19, 2023 8:39 PM IST