Paras Mhambrey opens up on India’s short-ball blueprint to Travis Head
India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey expressed that the bowling attack worked on a short-ball blueprint in order to try and dismiss Australia’s Travis Head in the crucial World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 final at The Oval in London.
Speaking about the match, the Aussies were in a spot of bother after losing three wickets for just 76 runs in the first innings. However, an invaluable partnership between Travis Head and Steve Smith of an unconquered 251 runs kept the Aussies in the driver’s seat at the end of Day 1.
The star of the day’s play- Head, remained firm at the crease and eased the pressure off Smith with his natural game. Carving out an aggressive innings, Head garnered massive runs with his impeccable strokes and notched up a magnificent century.
With as many as 22 boundaries and a maximum to his account, the flamboyant southpaw concluded the day’s play with an unbeaten score of 146 off 156 balls at a strike rate of 93.58. With this, India’s bowling coach Paras Mhambrey stated that his side did prepare a plan so as to expose the Aussie batter by bowling short-length deliveries.
“That’s one definitely discussed amongst our bowlers. We always felt that that was an area (short-length balls) that we could exploit against him (Travis Head). We could have done it a little earlier. Maybe 30 or 40 runs before this strategy could have been,” Mhambrey was quoted as saying by ‘The West’.
Notably, pacers Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami hit the required lengths while up against Head on Day 1. Shortly after the Tea break, the pacers landed the short-length deliveries, which momentarily troubled the southpaw, but the latter’s uncluttered mindset, coupled with his natural strokeplay, saw him steer Australia towards 327/3 on Day 1.
The pair of Smith and Head will look to extend their domination on Day 2 and aim to set a big total. On the other hand, team India will need to get early breakthroughs in order to claw their way back into the contest.
