New Delhi: Travis Head has emerged as a match-winning batter only after being allowed to play in his preferred aggressive style, former Australia skipper Tim Paine said on the eve of the third Test against India in Brisbane.
Head smashed a 140-run knock off 141 balls with seventeen fours and four sixes to lead Australia to a 10-wicket win in the second Test at Adelaide that helped th hosts squre the series 101 after going down in the first game at Perth.
The 30-year-old has flourished into an explosive left hand batter in red-ball cricket, but only after being allowed to play his natural game under skipper Pat Cummins and current coach Andrew McDonald.
“I think that’s been the major shift in his output because he is sticking true to the way he wants to play,” Paine told on SEN Cricket.
“At times he’s going to fail and at times he’s gonna have lean patches, but he’s going to be super aggressive, he’s going to play his shots and he’s going to try and be a match winner and we’re just seeing him blossom at the moment in all formats of the game.”
‘Head, Langer had difference of opinion’
But it wasn’t the case when Justin Langer was the coach as he wanted Head to concentrate on his defensive technique. Former opener Langer, a veteran of 105 Test matches, differed with Head over approach to batting in red-ball cricket.
“I don’t think either of them will mind me saying this, but he and JL used to have a real difference of opinion,” Paine said.
“You’ve got Test greats in commentary and you’ve got a Test great (Langer) that’s coaching and Graeme Hick at the time who’d scored 101 First Class hundreds as his batting coach (offering advice).
“They were trying really hard for him to work on his defence and it wasn’t the way he wanted to go about it, but he was a young Test player who was trying to impress and trying to stay in the team, so he was trying to please a bit of everyone,” he added.
Head has emerged as a big-match player, having been adjudged man of the match at the World Test Championship final and the ODI World Cup final last year. He was also named the player of the year of the day-night Adelaide Test.
Head smashed a 140-run knock off 141 balls to lead Australia to a 10-wicket win over India in the second Test at Adelaide Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
