Travis Head and Gabba - the heartbreak continues

137 vs India at the Narendra Modi Stadium

163 vs India at the Oval

152 vs England at the Gabba

Over the last two years, there haven’t been too many clutch players of the same ilk as Travis Head. He has not just been a clutch player but a tormentor of many bowling units in the longest format with some swashbuckling cricket. 

But as West Indies proved it, for the second time in a row, Head is, after all, a human. Just in the first Test at the Adelaide Oval, the 30-year-old dashed any remaining hopes for West Indies with a stunning 119, where he counter-attacked the leather to the fullest. 

So, coming into the Gabba Test, the expectations were naturally high, with the crowd gathering in numbers to witness the left-handed monster, except that the monster did not arrive. 

Head’s record in the recent time at the Gabba has been one to forget before this innings. Before the second innings here on Sunday (January 28) at the Gabba, the South Australian’s last two innings at the venue read: 0 (1), 0 (1). 

In the second innings of the Gabba Test against South Africa, the left-hander was strangled down the leg side. 

Guess how he got out in the first innings of the second Test against West Indies? 

Strangled down the leg-side. And off the first ball, jue like the Test against South Africa. All of this would have definitely played at the back of his mind when he walked out to bat with Australia in a far more comfortable position at 113/3, chasing just 216. 

Up against him was an in-form Shamar Joseph, who was steaming in with more heat than the rest of the Windies bowling unit put together. Despite getting a toe-crusher on Saturday (January 27), Joseph returned to bowl and was on the mark immediately with Cameron Green's wicket. 

Joseph was at his aggressive best and sensed another wicket, bowling around the wicket for Head. It was as good a delivery as anyone could get the first, a toe-crushing yorker that jazzed past Head’s defence. 

All you could hear was the sound of timber, with the Gabba going dead silent. 

Head walked back, joining another unique group, but this time in a terrible sense, becoming only the third Australian to record a king pair in Tests, alongside his idol Adam Gilchrist and Ryan Harris. 

0 (1), 0 (1), 0 (1), after all, Head is a human.