Tons of trouble for India: Travis Head and Steven Smith power Australia to dominant position with centuries
Travis Head put an insipid Indian bowling attack to sword for his second successive hundred while veteran Steven Smith wore the opposition down with a statement century to put Australia in a favourable position on day two of the third Test here on Sunday.
Australia reached a commanding 405 for 7 at stumps courtesy, a 241- run stand between Head (152 off 160) and Smith (101 off 190) for the fourth wicket after the visitors put them in a spot of bother at 75 for three in the morning.
The Indian bowlers, who impressed in the first session, lost their way to allow Head and Co to dominate the proceedings. Jasprit Bumrah (5/72), who came up with welcome wickets both in the morning and towards the end of play, was once again the stand out bowler for the visitors.
It was his second five-wicket haul of the series and the overall tally stands at 17. Leaving Bumrah’s brilliance aside, India’s on-field tactics left a lot to be desired as Head played yet another game changing knock. Head’s hundred came after a match-winning 140 in Adelaide while it was a classical Test match knock for Smith, who reached three figures for the first time in 25 innings, silencing his detractors.
While reaching their personal milestones, Smith now is the international batter with joint most Test hundreds (10) against India alongside Joe Root followed by Sir Vivian Richards and Sir Garfield Sobers (8 each). Head, since his century in WTC final at the Oval in 2023 has been India’s nemesis with another classic ton in ODI World Cup final and two
