India’s Jasprit Bumrah will go down as “one of the greatest fast bowlers to play the game”, says Australia’s top-order batter Travis Head as both teams prepare to face-off in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Stand-in skipper Bumrah took eight wickets in a supremely accurate and ferocious display of fast bowling in the first Test to help the visitors to a crushing 295-run victory in Perth on November 25.
The 30-year-old is set to hand the captaincy back to regular skipper Rohit Sharma for the second Test. Unburdened by leadership duties, Bumrah could be even more of a threat under lights with the pink ball.
“Jasprit is probably going to go down as one of the greatest fast bowlers to play the game,” Head said on Monday, before the day-night Test in Adelaide that begins on Friday.
“We’re finding that at the moment – how challenging he can be, and it’s nice to play against that.
“It’s going to be nice to look back at your career and tell the grandkids that you faced him, so it’s not a bad series to play in with him,” Head added. He was one of Bumrah’s three second-innings wickets at Perth.
“Hopefully I only have to face [him] a few more times. He’s been challenging.”
Head top-scored for Australia with 89 in the hosts’ second innings and he will be on familiar territory on his home turf at the Adelaide Oval.
But for all that, the 30-year-old said: “It’s just another week – go and prepare and go in fresh and hopefully I can roll out the same sort of performances.
“It’s going to be a challenge but I feel like I’m moving well, feel like I’m in a good space and go out and try and execute that.”
He said the hosts, who came into the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series as favourites, had quickly got over the shock of their heavy loss in the opener.
“The writing was on the wall pretty quickly in that Test match that we were pushing it uphill,” he said.
“So for me it was reflecting in-game what we could have done better by the time that result had come.
“It’s a pretty easy one as such to move on and get over, and start talking about what’s coming.”
India hold the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after winning it at home in 2022-23 and lead the five-match series 1-0.
Australia last won the bilateral Test series in 2014-15 at home. (AlJazeera)
