Aussies a-head after twin tons blow away India on day two

Australia surged into a dominant position on day two of this third Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Brisbane off the back of another rollicking Travis Head century and a redemption hundred for the great Steve Smith.

Head (152) and Smith (101), century makers together during the World Test Championship final against India in June 2023, were at it again at the Gabba on Sunday, basking in the sunshine and teaming up for a stunning 241-run stand that has shifted the trajectory of this five-Test series in Australia's favour.

Their union began at 3-75 in the 33rd over, after an eventful morning.

Jasprit Bumrah's first over from the Stanley St End was a testing one for Usman Khawaja, who was then on his way for 21 from the first ball of his next over, a feather of an outside edge flying through to Rishabh Pant.

Akash Deep then had a cautious Nathan McSweeney (9 from 49) chasing a slightly wider, fuller delivery that flew narrowly wide of gully and down to the rope for four. 

Yet McSweeney's challenging stay only lasted a few more balls; from the first ball he faced from Bumrah for the day, he was squared up, the ball caught the edge high on his bat, and it flew to Virat Kohli at second slip.

The quirkiness of Smith was immediately evident as he faced up to Deep, with the right-hander unveiling a new approach; an exaggerated step across the stumps that saw him finishing well outside off, and saw Bumrah quickly employ a leg slip. 

Smith was struck twice in succession around the midriff from Bumrah but a couple of singles tucked through the leg side showed the logic behind the batter's shifted methodology. 

The battle for him and Labuschagne continued through an absorbing opening session, as both batters searched for runs and some semblance of control, which the Indian bowlers were unwilling to relinquish. 

For the prolific pair there were signs both encouraging and alarming, but just before the second drinks break of an extended first session, Labuschagne was undone as he chased a full and wide delivery from Nitish Kumar Reddy and nicked through to Kohli, who took a sharp catch.

It ended the Queenslander's stay at 12 from 55 balls, bringing his series strike-rate to 34.03 for his 81 runs. 

The next over, Siraj angled one into Smith, who offered no shot and was rapped on the pads. The bowler launched into his second 'celebr-appeal' of the morning but the umpire was unmoved. Standing at first slip, India captain Rohit Sharma suggested with his hands that the ball was perhaps missing off stump, but his teammates' enthusiasm compelled him to review the not out decision. 

In the end, Rohit – and the umpire – were half right; with a smidgeon of the ball projected to hit the very top of off stump, 'umpire's call' was the adjudication and Smith survived. Soon after, and via a leg-side heavy wagon wheel, Smith moved to 20 for the first time in the series.

Having survived the big lbw shout from Siraj, he then survived another from Deep courtesy of the thinnest of inside edges. Perhaps it was just the luck Smith needed. 

Luck meanwhile appeared to have deserted Siraj when the paceman clutched at the lower end of his left hamstring and was briefly forced from the field. 

Siraj's exit and the arrival of Head – who survived his first ball after three consecutive golden ducks in his past three Test innings at the Gabba – seemed to upset what had been a quite clinical approach from India.

The dashing left-hander hit two fours through cover – one off the back foot, one off the front – from the first 14 balls he faced, and by the time lunch arrived, he too had moved into the 20s alongside Smith, and Australia were 3-104.

After the break, Head picked up where he left off, welcoming Ravindra Jadeja to the bowling crease for the first time by whipping a long hop down through fine leg for four. 

From Deep the next over, Smith played the most convincing shot of his innings to that point, driving straight back past the bowler for four, though two balls later Deep was convinced he had Smith lbw. The umpire however was not, and it was the latter who proved correct when ball-tracking technology showed the ball to be high and wide of leg stump.

Deep continued his impressive showing with a fine post-lunch spell, and his tussle with Smith went back and forth, each man pocketing their little wins. Smith finally found a boundary through the off-side when he cut a wide, short delivery for the paceman to the point fence, while at the other end, Head lofted Jadeja for six over long off just a few balls after that fielder had been brought up to a regulation mid-off. 

That maximum was followed a ball later by four more through wide mid-off, and soon after, Head had posted his third consecutive 50-plus score for the series to reaffirm his status as Australia's most dangerous batter.

Head soon hit the second of two upper-cuts – more spectacularly this time off his old nemesis Siraj – and the century stand between him and Smith came up when the left-hander thrashed a hook shot off the same bowler for four more. By that point, the morning momentum that had belonged to India had swung well and truly Australia's way, a point that was underlined a couple of balls later when Head slashed up and over the slips cordon for the streakiest of his boundaries.

They kept coming, ever more emphatically – a slashing cut shot off Reddy, a thunderous on drive off Bumrah – as the South Australian blaster marched inexorably to a second consecutive hundred for the series.

And his aggression was infectious; Smith too became more expansive as the afternoon wore on, with the pair moving their century stand to 150 inside seven overs and the middle session reaping 129 from 27 overs for the hosts without loss. 

Head played with more abandon at the beginning of the third session and that was reflected in an inside edge that just evaded his stumps off Jadeja, and a dropped diving chance at third slip off Reddy. In between though, he continued to entertain, driving Reddy for an exquisite four straight down the ground.

As Jadeja struggled to maintain his usually metronomic line and length, and India's pace bowlers tired, the Australian pair continued to take advantage. 

Smith appeared more comfortable the longer his innings wore on, and shortly after the second new ball arrived, he played a delightful straight drive to move to 99. 

One ball later, a tickle to fine leg saw the 35-year-old reach a 33rd Test hundred. His emotional reaction to the milestone told of a man who had long been searching for his finest form, and this was an innings that mixed Smith's trademark stroke-play and quirky counters to his opponents' plans with some plain old grit.

On 101, he finally succumbed, edging Bumrah to Rohit at first slip to end a magnificent innings and a potentially match-defining stand of 241 from 50.4 overs. Just as they had done in the World Test Championship final 18 months ago, Smith and Head had stolen the advantage from India and put their team in the box seat.  

At 4-316 and with a deflated visiting attack, Mitch Marsh seemed the perfect man to arrive at the middle and continue the Australians' aggressive approach.

But Bumrah with a new ball is never a routine proposition, and having endured the wrath of Head and Smith for too long, the Indian ace inevitably had a say on proceedings. First, he dismissed Marsh (5), who edged through to give Kohli a third catch, and then he finally accounted for Head, whose 152 matched his Ashes classic from three summers ago. 

As they had done with Smith, the Gabba crowd stood as one to applaud Head, who even before the retirement of David Warner, has established himself as the batting group's premier entertainer. 

That being said, Alex Carey quickly set about keeping the Gabba patrons happy, with the left-hander teaming up with his skipper Pat Cummins (20) for a 58-run stand in just 11 overs. 

Cummins was ultimately a frustrated Siraj's first wicket of the innings as Carey carried on with Starc in tow, the Australians moving past 400 in the closing minutes of a remarkably dominant day for the hosts. 

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

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: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, 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