3 records that Travis Head broke during his 163-run knock against India at the WTC final
Australia's middle-order batter Travis Head played a special knock and helped his side dominate proceedings against India in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) final.
The match is being played at the Kennington Oval in London, with Australia's score currently reading 422/7 after Lunch on Day 2.
After being asked to bat first, the Aussies were in trouble. After losing Usman Khawaja for a duck, David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne were dismissed in the span of only three overs. This led Travis Head coming out to the middle, with the score reading 76/3.
Head joined hands with Steve Smith, who was taking time to settle himself in. While Smith was tiring out the Indian bowlers, Head took charge and batted aggressively.
As the day progressed, conditions became easier for batting while some loose bowling from India didn't help their cause either. Head had a plan to counter-attack, in which he found success.
With the help of 22 boundaries and a six, the left-handed batter smashed 146 runs on the opening day. He reached his 150 with a boundary off Mohammed Shami on Day 2.
361/4 
WICKET! 💥
Mohammed Siraj strikes, India have finally got the breakthrough after 285 runs.
End of an incredible knock by Travis Head 👏
🇦🇺 361/4
#WTC23 #AUSvIND #CricketTwitter https://t.co/kH5hxLeKnc
India then peppered Head with a barrage of bouncers before he nicked one off to the keeper. The 29-year-old was dismissed after a sumptuous 163-run knock off 174 balls and put Australia in a commanding position in the WTC final.
During the course of his magnificent innings, the Australian batter also broke a slew of records.
Here are three records that Travis Head broke during his wonderful knock against India in London.
#3 Second-highest Test score by an Aussie at a neutral venue
Travis Head's incredible knock saw him muster 163 runs. This is now the second-best individual score by any Australian batter at a neutral venue in Test cricket history.
Head had a golden opportunity to tumble the 111-year-old record but agonizingly missed out by just one run.
The record for the highest individual score by an Aussie batter at a neutral venue is still held by Warren Bardsley, who scored 164 runs against South Africa at Lord's in 1912.
#2 First-ever centurion in a WTC final
Head produced a batting masterclass on Wednesday, putting the Indian bowlers to the sword. The southpaw pounced on every delivery that was there to be hit and collected runs rather easily.
In the 65th over of Day 1, he completed his century, off 106 balls, thus becoming the first-ever player to hit a ton in a WTC final. The previous highest score in a WTC final belonged to New Zealand's Devon Conway (54 vs India in 2021).
Head also became the first-ever player to record 150 runs in a WTC final. Just before he completed his 150, Steve Smith (121) reached his ton and became the second batter to hit a century in a WTC final.
#1 Travis Head now has the best strike rate in the 2021-23 WTC cycle (minimum 500 runs)
Head is a natural hard-hitting batter, who likes to take on the opposition. He has exactly lived up to the billing all throughout this WTC cycle and scored at a brisk rate against India as well.
Smashing 25 boundaries and a six in total, Head batted at a strike rate of 93.68. With this, he took his overall strike rate in the current WTC cycle (2021-23) to 82.04. This is now the best strike rate by any batter in this period (minimum of 500 runs scored).
#WTCFinal
Travis Head, the counter-attack specialist 👊 #WTCFinal https://t.co/uCcluJQXo3
Head surpassed India's Rishabh Pant in the tally. Pant, who played 21 innings and scored 868 runs in WTC cycle 2021-23, struck at a rate of 80.81.
Head has so far scored 1371 runs in 37 innings in this cycle.