Vaibhav Tripathi in Dubai
For Indian fans, cricket is more than just a sport; it’s a whirlwind of emotions, woven with moments of glory and heartbreak. Yet, among those memories lies a nightmare they wish to erase – the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad. That night, a swashbuckling left-hand batter, Travis Head, a name that still stirs unease in the stands, shattered their dreams and rewrote history. That night, under the floodlights, as India hoped for a fairytale ending, it was Head who snatched the script, rewrote it, and walked away with the trophy. And not just once—he has done it twice. The same year, he smashed a hundred in the WTC final to win the game for his team.
But now, there’s a chance for redemption. As the match comes closer to the start, the whispers grow louder in cricketing circles: “How do you stop Head?” His dominance over pace is undeniable. Give him width, and he carves you through cover or point. Go short, and he dispatches it into the stands. Attack his stumps, and he shuffles across, flicking the bowler with disdain. The margin of error is very small when it comes to bowling to him
But even the finest warriors have a weakness. Against Head, the right-arm pacers who have succeeded in the past have kept it simple. Target the off stump or fourth-stump line, cramp Head for room, and hit the good length. Head becomes a bowled or caught-behind candidate. He was lucky not to nick one of the many deliveries he was beaten on at the start of the World Cup final.
Dubai’s pitches have already shown their hand—spinners will play a key role. And India’s arsenal is ready: Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, and the X-factor, Varun Chakravarthy. The match will unfold on the same pitch that hosted the high-octane India-Pakistan clash. Expect the surface to play tricks, holding up slightly, gripping just enough to unsettle batters. It will test Head’s technique.
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For Head, it’s a confrontation with the ghosts of his own technique. He has ventured down the track to spinners before, only to be left stranded. He has also been pinned to the crease. Jadeja, firing in from close to the stumps, can lure him into a rash stroke. Kuldeep, with his sharp turn away, can force a mistimed uppish drive. Head has faced the likes of Jadeja, Kuldeep, and Axar in the past. But his biggest challenge awaits in the form of Varun, the mystery he has yet to decode.
“The only way Australia can make a game out of the semi-final is if Travis Head goes berserk in the first 10 overs,” Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube channel. “Head vs Varun is the battle I’m looking forward to. I’ll give the new ball to Varun as soon as Head takes strike.”
Varun brings different variations with subtle changes in grip and action. His tendency to relentlessly attack the stumps could trap Head in the crease.
If India execute their plans well, the man who once haunted them could find himself trapped in a maze of his own making.
But this is Australia. And this is Travis Head. He thrives under pressure. If he manages to tackle India’s spinners, the Ahmedabad nightmare could haunt Indian fans once more, this time in Dubai.
Also Read: Nothing-to-lose Australia out to ruffle India in Dubai
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