Ravichandran Ashwin hails Travis Head after his 69-ball century, the second-fastest in Ashes history, helped Australia easily chase down 205 runs on Day 2 of first Ashes Test.
Former India cricketer Ravichandran hailed Travis Head for his explosive knock in the first Ashes Test at Perth, saying that he "wins more too many games than anybody else in the current day and age of cricket". He also backed him as a future captain at franchise cricket and international level, pointing out he has got "all the requisite leadership qualities".
The month of November and another Travis masterclass. Living up to Internet memes about him bashing teams with blue jerseys, most notably India and England, the left-hander saw blue and piled up a 69-ball century, the second-fastest in Ashes history to help Australia chase down an easy target of 205 runs on the second day of the Ashes opener at Perth's Optus Stadium.
Even without the presence of their frontline pacers, Josh Hazlewood and skipper Pat Cummins, Australia managed to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series, the Three Lions failing at their best chance to take a series lead.
On his Youtube Channel, Ashwin hailed Head's ability to take away matches from his opponents in a blink of an eye and jokingly said that as a "well-wisher of Indian cricket", he hopes Australia does not make him the captain because if they do, he does not know "what all he will go on to achieve".
"When Travis Head gets on a roll, right, he wins too many games than anybody else in the current day and age of cricket. And I really hope, from the side of an Indian cricket fan and an Indian cricket well-wisher.
"Obviously, I do not want Australia winning a lot, I really hope Australia doesn't go the route of making Travis Head the captain at some stage," he said.
"If he becomes captain, I do not know what all he will go on to achieve. I am saying he has got all the requisite leadership qualities, and as a batting inspirational, he can really take a team along. I hope, I mean maybe he could be a captain of a franchise before captaincy in Australia," he added.
Speaking on his knock further, Ashwin said, "In November, Travis Head cooks. He completely cooked it, there is no doubt. He played two or three shots, I posted a tweet, and he moved completely away from the stumps, with the distance from his front foot to the ball being at least a kilometre.
"From there, he hit it. Look at how he rattled them. He moved away, swung, didn't connect fully with the bat, and the ball completely missed the set of stumps and went under the leg stump. Look at how it moved, look at how he hit it, and the bowler was completely rattled.
"He came in and played that pickup shot off Mark Wood. To me, that was the shot of the day because it was a bit early in the innings, and I expected Mark Wood to go at him. But he chipped it inside, and because the fine leg behind is small and the front boundary is small while the side is big, he came inside and picked it up.
"You know that is the best place to hit a six. And then, obviously, he played two or three more shots," he added.
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