WTC Final 2023: Travis Head, Steve Smith star as Australia dominate India on opening day

Australia were in complete command at stumps on the opening day of the 2023 World Test Championship final after Travis Head and Steve Smith dominated at the Oval.

Head was unbeaten on 146 while Smith (95 not out) neared his 31st Test hundred as Australia reached 327 for 3 by the end of play on Wednesday.

Australia were in a spot of bother when Steve Smith and Travis Head came together. At stumps, the two had added an unbroken 251 for the fourth wicket against a tiring Indian bowling attack. It was a real test for Rohit Sharma’s men but at least on the opening day.

They failed to come out on top as Head and Smith played contrasting innings to put their team in total control. The Australians endured a tough first hour but they battled back first through David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne before an epic partnership between Head and Smith frustrated India.

Travis Head was outstanding. His omission from the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy had created a controversy in Australia but in the final of the Test championship, he showed why he is such a dangerous batter. After an aggressive start, Head settled down to play one of the greatest Test knocks against India in recent years and became the first player to hit a hundred in a WTC final.

He was the aggressor in an attritional partnership with Steve Smith who was happy to play second fiddle till his half-century before unleashing some delightful shots towards the end of the first day’s play.

Steve Smith made the most of a few extra minutes thanks to India’s poor over-rate and pressed hard to get closer to his 31st hundred. He is now 9 runs short of his 9th hundred against India.

India will have to iron out several flaws with their bowling before they take the field again on the second day. This was only the third time that India have conceded a 200+ partnership after opting to bowl first.

Their pacers were good every now and then – like when Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj gave the Australian top-order batters a tough time in the first hour or when Shardul Thakur bowled a couple of peaches or when Shami troubled Head with some superb display of fast bowling as the Australian edged closer to a historic hundred.

R Ashwin did not find a place in the XI and Rohit Sharma conceded it was difficult to leave out a spinner of his quality but four pacers were necessary because of the overcast conditions. The cloud cover was soon gone and it was an ideal day for Australia’s batters to torment India’s four-pronged pace attack.

India were ordinary on the field after a probing spell of fast bowling in the first hour from Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj. The two India pacers were accurate and exploited the overcast conditions to trouble the Australians. Siraj, in fact, gave India an early advantage when he dismissed Usman Khawaja, the second highest scorer in the second edition of the World Test Championship, for a duck.

Usman Khawaja had scored a classy 180 in the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and his wicket was vital but once Siraj pocketed the first ball, India started to make a series of mistakes.

For some reason, Rohit Sharma kept Shami and Siraj on for the entire first hour, each bowling 6 overs and giving David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne enough time to settle down without having to worry about thinking of dealing with many variations. The ball was doing a bit but there was still no reason to not bring on Shardul Thakur earlier than he eventually came on to bowl.

Steve Smith joined forces with Travis Head to build the best partnership in the short history of WTC finals. It was a beautiful day for batting and the two Australian batters made the most of it. India were listless, Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was questionable and soon, the shoulders of the Indian fielders began to drop. The poor body language did not help as Head and Smith toyed with the Indian bowlers in the summit clash of the Test championship. For an Indian fan, it was not pleasant viewing.

Ravindra Jadeja, the lone spinner in the Indian playing XI, wasn’t brought into the attack till as late as the 38th over even as the sun baked on the pitch.

Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj had bowled beautifully in the IPL but the short spells in the T20 games leading up to the WTC final did nothing to prepare them for the rigors of Test cricket. Umesh Yadav was ordinary and Shardul Thakur who was impressive in patches, soon lost his sting against the aggressive Australian duo at the crease.

Travis Head was brilliant. He was the X-factor for Australia in their most important Test match in years. Earlier this year, eyebrows were raised after he was left out of the opening BGT Test against India. He finished the tour with a 90 in Ahmedabad and then followed that up with a classy hundred when it really mattered. Head was quick and he was ready to push the game forward as Smith settled down to a more relaxed pace. The ball was swinging but Head did not care and often threw caution to the wind to dominate India.

Travis Head was in a hurry from the moment he came out to bat and announced his intentions with four boundaries off an Umesh Yadav over. By the time he got to his hundred, Australia had taken a giant leap in the final. Head became the first batter to score a hundred in a WTC final and he showed no signs of slowing down after reaching his milestone.

At the other end, a sedate Steve Smith scored a gutsy half-century and showed why he has mastered the art of grafting. He showed concentration like few batters can in this modern era and frustrated India’s pacers with solid defence and the ability to punish loose balls. Smith then accelerated and remained unbeaten on 95. It was an innings typical of Smith: he loves batting and he was happy to make the most of some very poor bowling.

Australia could not have asked for two better batsmen to be involved in that partnership after those early setbacks. India were thrilled to see the back of Marnus Labuschagne but the joy was short-lived as Travis Head and Steve Smith batted with panache to take Australia to a position of domination.

India will have the opportunity to come back strongly; there’s plenty of time left in this Test match but the Indian pacers were found wanting for the fourth successive overseas Test. Not long back, these pacers were feared the world over but under a new team of coaches, they have only been a shadow of their past.