Dinesh Karthik called him Travis 'Head-ache', Ravi Shastri reckoned that he is the mental block for India ahead of the Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia in Dubai on Tuesday, March 4. The Australian opener has defined what 'mamba mentality' looks like, having been the single-most factor between India and a victory in the World Cup final, the World Test Championship final and more recently in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The wounds of the World Cup 2023 final are still fresh in the memories of one and all, especially in India and Head's wicket will be the biggest for India to get through the first phase of the match or the innings. Head, who smashed a 120-ball 137 in the World Cup 2023 final in front of a packed Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, reckoned that it was the best cricketing moment of his life.
"It'd be number one. There's a few nice moments I've been involved in. But yeah, in the history the one day World Cup, what it meant for Australia, what Australia have been able to achieve in those World Cup, be number one by a mile," Head told ICC in a video posted on the day of the Champions Trophy semi-final.
Head mentioned that the crowd was as loud as it could be when India got early wickets of David Warner and Steve Smith while defending a low score of 241. Head reckoned that how his partnership with Marnus Labuschagne changed the momentum of the game, seeing a roaring crowd slowly go silent was 'crazy'.
"It's always nice when it pops up. It's a nice memory. What I remember from it being crazy 24 hours.
"Yeah, it's probably one of the loudest stadiums I've heard when Davey [Warner] got out and then Steve [Smith]. I guess they played so well in the tournament, it sort of felt like it was their tournament to win and then to build a partnership with Marcus [Labuschagne] and sort of feel the flow of that, I've said a few times felt like we fielded for about six hours and batted for about 20 minutes. So yeah, pretty crazy once the momentum changed and we got in a good position, the dynamic of the game changed," Head added.
A sigh of relief must be there for India if they do get Head out, but it won't be the end of it all as the likes of Josh Inglis, Alex Carey and Steve Smith are good players of spin and the Men in Blue need to manage the pressure of a knockout and not let their emotions get better of them.