Head only 'a bit sore', insists success is no blueprint

Travis Head quashed suggestions he suffered an injury on the final day of the Gabba Test, insisting he is simply "sore" from back-to-back centuries, as he stressed his stunning form against India is no blueprint for struggling teammates.

Head appeared ginger when running between wickets during Australia's in-vain attempt to set up a result on the final day of the third NRMA Insurance Test. Fox Cricket suggested he had suffered a groin injury.

The prospect of losing the star left-hander averaging double the next best performed Australian in this series would have been unpalatable for the hosts, who have already lost Josh Hazlewood to a calf strain for the final two Tests.

This was denied by the Australian camp. Pat Cummins said Head had a tight quad. Speaking to cricket.com.au, the batter insisted he was only "a bit sore".

"I've had a big couple of weeks, no doubt about that. But I'll be fine for Melbourne, so no stress," he said.

Indeed, Head has already spent 10-and-a-half hours at the crease in this series and is on track to surpass his previous highest tally of balls faced in a Test bout. His tally of 434 balls faced is 167 more than the next highest by an Australian (Steve Smith with 267) and only 120 off his highest mark of 554 balls faced in the 2018-19 home series against India.

The 30-year-old has been player-of-the-match in consecutive Tests but he will not be advising others to follow his laidback preparation. He has made no secret that he is far from an over-trainer and hits comparatively fewer balls than his teammates in the nets.

"I feel like I'm moving really well, I'm playing well. I've just got to make sure that I continue to stay fresh mentally and that means not hitting as many balls at training (when) others do," said Head.

"It's all personal preference. But it's hard – there's not many left-handers above me. 'Uz' (Usman Khawaja) is the only one, and we play a completely different game style and then the rest are right handers.

"So it's hard to all communicate the same way on what different plans are. But we back each guy.

"Hopefully I'm still doing it (making runs) next week. But if that's not the case, then different guys will step up at different times and hopefully build those partnerships."

Head has also dealt with the challenge of Bumrah relatively successfully. From the 91 balls the star quick has bowled to him, Head has scored 92 runs and was on 89 (in Perth) and 152 (in Brisbane) on the two occasions he lost his wicket to him.

"We all know the game well, and we all talk about the game, but it's also a lot different for me facing him," said Head.

"Different scenario for the right handers in the way that he is able to shape the ball. We all set up differently, we all see the ball differently, we all have different methods about going about it.

"There's no doubt we will talk about different things but it's a very individualised sport where guys control their own way going about things."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

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