Travis Head batted with Bazball-like approach on Day 1 of World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 final at Kennington Oval, London. Head broke New Zealand batter Devon Conway of highest score in a WTC final. Conway scored 54 runs from 153 balls against Virat Kohli-led India at the Rose Bowl, Southampton. Head surpassed him in a single session with a counter-attacking knock against Rohit Sharma-led side.
Head came in to bat early in the second session as Marnus Labuschagne got bowled by Mohammed Shami. The southpaw looked to hit boundaries against Indian pacers. At one point he had a T20-like average with 28 runs from 19 balls. He reached his half-century with a boundary. He took 60 deliveries to become only third batter to score a half-century in WTC final. At the end of second session, he had 60 runs from 75 balls.
Apart from Conway and Head, Kane Williamson is the only batter who has scored a half-century in WTC final. In the run chase against India, Williamson scored an unbeaten 52 off 89 balls. Former Australia skipper Steve Smith joined the list in the third session of Day 1. Smith played patiently and reached his half-century from 144 balls.
India also created history in ICC events. India became the third team after West Indies and Pakistan to play consecutive finals in the first two editions of an ICC tournament. West Indies won two consecutive finals in ODI World Cups whereas Pakistan reached two finals of T20 World Cup.
Interestingly, Head did not play a single competitive match since the ODI clash against India at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. He scored a 31-ball 33 in Australia's 21-run win.
So far, no Indian batter has scored a half-century in WTC final. Ajinkya Rahane came closest to a half-century as he was dismissed for 49. Former Indian skipper Kohli and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant registered scores of 44 and 41 respectively.
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