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Australia's legendary captain Ricky Ponting lavished praise on Travis Head after the batter smashed 140 runs against India in the second Test match of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. He become the first Australia batter to smash a century in the ongoing Test series. Ponting believes that the left-handed batter is well on his way to becoming one of the batting greats of the modern-day game. Head was the only batter who managed to score in three digits in the pink-ball Test and that helped Australia to register a dominating 10-wicket win against India.
Head is one of the consistent performers for Australia especially while the Baggy Greens are playing against India. He was one of the main reasons behind Australia's win in the 2023 World Test Championship final. Head smashed 163 runs against India in the WTC final helping Australia to win the finale by 209 runs. After that, he played a match-winning 137-run knock against India during ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad.
“He's on the way to being one of those (greats). I don't think you can call him a great just yet. That's no knock on what he's doing because what he's doing has been spectacular. And a lot of the times, it's been when his team's needed him the most.
"Think about the World Cup semi-final, the World Cup final, World Test Championship, Ashes in Australia a couple of years ago. Big moments are when Travis has found a way to stand up," said Ponting on the ICC Review show.
Ponting also compared Head's style of play to his former teammate, swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist, who brought in aggressive strokeplay as a left-handed batter in Australia's dominating era in the early 2000s.
“The obvious one is Gilly. The way that Head plays is in a very similar way to the way that Gilchrist played, albeit a couple of positions higher in the batting order. Gilly was a six or seven, and Travis is doing his damage at No.5.
“I love sitting back and watching him play. It's quite refreshing to watch guys play that way. It doesn't matter what the situation is, Travis is going to come out and play the same way, and I love that.
“It's Travis's attitude that allows him to play the way that he's played. He's not scared of getting out. He doesn't care about the negative result. He's only seeing the positive outcome in everything that he does,” concluded Ponting.
Both India and Australia are currently preparing for the third Test match of the ongoing five-match series. The upcoming clash will take place in Brisbane's iconic Gabba stadium from December 14. India will look to win this series to seal their spot in the WTC final scheduled to take place next year in England.
