Adelaide, Dec 7– Travis Head smashed a brilliant 140 – his eighth hundred in the format – third on his home ground, as Australia swelled its lead to 152 runs after reaching 332/8 in 85 overs at tea on day two of the second Test at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
It was a tremendous innings from Head, who mixed his usual free-flowing cuts and pulls with some sumptuous drives while hitting 17 fours and four sixes to Australia firmly in the box seat of the match via his third hundred in day-night Tests.
With Australia having two wickets in hand, their innings might wrap up quickly before their bowlers have a go at Indian batters in the twilight session. The second session began with Head and Mitchell Marsh taking a four each off Bumrah, before the latter tried to defend off a sliding off-break from Ravichandran Ashwin, but nicked it behind to Pant and walked off even before umpire Richard Illingworth raised his finger.
Replays later showed a flat line on snicko, which meant Marsh had never nicked it in the first place. After swivelling Bumrah for four, Head danced down the pitch to hammer over his head for six. He again tried to hit big off Ashwin over mid-on, but toe-ended it and Mohammed Siraj dropped a difficult catch.