WTC Final: Steve Smith lauds Travis Head after historic ton, says 'I had the best seat in the house'

Australia vice-captain Steve Smith was full of praise for Travis Head after the latter played a superb knock to see his side in command in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Smith, who also bought up his 43rd international hundred on Thursday, 8 June stitched a 285-run stand for the fourth wicket before being dismissed for 121 by Shardul Thakur. On the flip side, Head was dismissed on 163 before being scalped by Mohammed Siraj.

Smith lauds Head

"I had the best seat in the house for the performance Head put on. But for me it is staying in the bubble, playing the way I know I play in test cricket. Not sort of shying away too much from that. If I tried to keep up with Heady, I would get myself into trouble. Just play what is in front of me and just keep batting," said Smith before the start of Day 2.

Asked to bat first in the challenging conditions of the Oval, Australia started on the back foot on Day 1 as they lost star batter Usman Khawaja for a duck in the fourth over. David Warner (43) and Marnus Labuschagne (26) then took control of the innings as they put together a 69-run stand for the second wicket. However, Shardul and Siraj then struck in quick succession to put the Aussies back on the back foot.

At 76/3 in the first session, the Indians were at the top of their game as the decision to bowl looked wise. However, it was the Steve Smith and Travis Head show that would frustrate the Indian bowlers. On a challenging wicket that had bounce, both Smith and Head held their nerves until it became old. They took the attack against Indian pacers while giving no chance to Ravindra Jadeja to settle in the conditions.

Smith on conditions

"I think yesterday it really helped. It put a lot of pressure back on the bowlers. Probably got them off their lengths a little bit. It translated to how they were bowling to me as well. I thought in the middle session, bowling perhaps a bit too short, probably didn't challenge the top of the stumps enough. I thought that came from the way Travis was playing and the pressure he was putting on them. So it was a nice partnership,” Smith said in the pre-day interview.

On Day 2 at the time of writing, the Aussies were 410/7 as Indian bowlers once again dominated the first hour as they scalped wickets to stamp their authority. Mohammed Shami, Siraj, and Shardul took two wickets each while Mitchell Starc was run out on 5.

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