Aussies prepare to meet Bumrah challenge head-on

Asked today if any of his top-order teammates had enlisted his insights on how best to handle India's fast-bowling phenomenon Jasprit Bumrah, Travis Head jokingly responded "they're not coming to me for batting tips, that's for sure."

But given his Test match record against the team that has provided more challenges to Australia on their own patch than any other touring outfit of past decades, perhaps his fellow batters might do worse than to pick the swashbuckling South Australian's brain.

Since first locking horns with India at his home ground Adelaide Oval in 2018, Head has scored more Test runs (815 at an average of 42.89) than any of his teammates past or present.

Indeed, over that six-year window only former England captain and current world number-one ranked batter Joe Root has scored more (1425 at 59.37) against India's bowlers with that tally coming from three more Test appearances than Head's 11.

Of that cohort to have amassed more than 500 Test runs against India since December 2018, the only batters to have bettered Head's strike rate of 59.5 runs per 100 balls faced are Root's fellow BazBallers Jonny Bairstow (65.0) and Zak Crawley (62.9).

To underscore Head's consistent returns against the powerhouse of world cricket, he returns to Adelaide Oval for the second NRMA Insurance Test against India starting Friday as the only member of Australia line-up to have reached 50 in the series opener at Perth Stadium.

And while others have been doggedly working in the nets in the search for answers against the unrelenting attack of Bumrah and his fellow quicks, Head took the opportunity for a few days away from batting before resuming his preparation today.

"I'm best when I look for the cues, when I'm just preparing to watch the ball hard and staying fresh mentally," Head said of his approach to combating Bumrah, who was named player of the match in Perth for his eight wickets.

"I think I'm lucky that I've faced him a few times and come across him a fair bit.

"So I just go back over recent times, and times I've faced him.

"We've been very fortunate to have played him a lot so I know what's coming, it's just making sure I'm prepared and fresh to start well."

Head first encountered the uncanny fast bowler with the unprecedented action at Adelaide in early December 2018 when both were in their rookie year as Test cricketers.

In the six subsequent Tests the pair have crossed paths, Bumrah has claimed the left-hander's wicket three times while Head has endured for 159 deliveries for the addition of 67 hard-earned runs.

But in Tests where India have been without their inimitable strike bowler, Head has averaged almost 60 with his most auspicious outing being last year's World Test Championship final at The Oval.

In that game, which India entered without Bumrah who was sidelined with a back stress fracture, Head scored a memorable 163 from 174 balls faced to be named player of the match.

It's the same award he's earned in his past two Tests on his home deck at Adelaide – both against West Indies – and the 30-year-old is understandably keen to get back to the venue where he currently averages 100.25 in Tests.

"Knowing it quite well and being fortunate to be put in a couple of really good positions to bat," Head explained today when asked for the secret to his remarkable record at Adelaide where he's posted two centuries from four starts.

"I've come in at some nice times.

"And growing up and playing on this wicket, it probably suits my game a bit more being (shorter) square of the wicket and the way that ball can react off the wicket.

"But 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."

The potential wildcard element in the duo's next match-up is the introduction of a pink ball rather than the traditional red version, with the second match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series to be played as a day-nighter.

Their only previous encounter in that format came four years ago, and it was the spin of India's Ravichandran Ashwin rather than Bumrah's speed that accounted for Head who was caught and bowled for seven in a rare home-town failure.

That game is best remembered for India's all-time low Test score of 36 as Josh Hazlewood – who will miss this week's match with a low-level side strain – captured 5-8 as Australia claimed an eight-wicket inside just two and a bit days.

While the pink ball is renowned for swinging in the air and nipping off the surface more dramatically when the floodlights take effect early evening, all but one of those India wickets fell under bright afternoon sunlight.

Head admitted the prospect of confronting Bumrah when armed with a pink ball might be daunting, but no greater challenge than the fast bowler posed with a new red ball late on day three in Perth when Australia was reduced to 3-12.

That paved the way for the reigning world champions eventual loss by a hefty 295 runs, with Head claiming the scope and inevitability of that defeat in some ways proving a benefit for the team to quickly move on to the upcoming challenge.

"The writing was on the wall pretty quickly in that Test match that we were pushing it uphill," he said of a match that was effectively decided once India set their rivals a fourth-innings target beyond 500.

"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.

"It's probably the closer losses that hit you with a bit of surprise so that it takes a few days (to process).

"But we were outplayed for most of that (first) Test so it's pretty easy to realise the things we did wrong, and we get three or four days to work on them.

"It's not really massive changes, but hopefully with a bit of energy and knowing what's on the line."

What's up for grabs is the chance to level the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series 1-1, or slip 0-2 down which would require a rarely before seen salvage job to wrest back the prize India have held and successfully defended since 2017.

The last time Australia surrendered the first two matches of a five-Test series on home turf before emerging triumphant was the Ashes series of 1936-37 which required the incomparable talents of Sir Donald Bradman.

It would surely require a similar run of scores to Bradman's 270, 212 and 169 in the final three Tests of that campaign to quell India given the form Bumrah displayed in the opening salvo at Perth last month.

But with a return to familiar surrounds looming, Head is hoping to be part of a similarly stunning turnaround in the home team's fortunes against one of the game's enduring greats.

"Jasprit is probably going to go down as one of the greatest fast bowlers to play the game," Head said today.

"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.

"But hopefully I only have to face a few more times.

"He's been challenging."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (D/N)

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad (for second Test): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal