They have been fiercest of rivals on the field, but Travis Head, Australia’s chief lynchpin with the willow during the Border-Gavaskar series opener in Perth, relishes the challenge of facing India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who he feels will go down as ‘one of the greatest fast bowlers to play the game’.

Back in his city in the lead-up to the second Test against India starting December 6, Head is looking to do an encore of his previous two Test appearances at the Adelaide Oval, where he ended up being the Player-of-the-match on both occasions. But Head is aware of the challenge that lies ahead of him when he features in his third Test at the venue.

Head was one of the few Australia batters to keep his reputation intact in the heavy Perth loss, scoring a fighting 89 in the second innings, despite a searing pace performance led by Bumrah.

In fact, since his Test debut, Head has been the most consistent Test batter for Australia against India, with 815 runs at an average of 42.89 and a century to his name. That one hundred, a brilliant 163, came in the WTC Final and helped Australia to the coveted mace last year. He also came good in the 50-over World Cup 2023 final against the same opponents, scoring a tournament-winning century.

However, equations have changed since, as Bumrah fired India up to a sensational 295-run win in Perth in the series opener. Head spoke of how he looked to counter the pacer.

“I’m best when I look for the cues when I’m just preparing to watch the ball hard and staying fresh mentally. I think I’m lucky that I’ve faced him a few times and come across him a fair bit.”

Familiarity breeds confidence for Head, so he believes that having played Bumrah several times in recent months helps him.

“So I just go back over recent times, and times I’ve faced him. We’ve been very fortunate to have played him a lot so I know what’s coming, it’s just making sure I’m prepared and fresh to start well,” the southpaw said.

Despite his success against India, Head’s Test average against the country drops to 33.25 in games featuring Bumrah. Overall, the batter averages 22.3 against the seamer, having fallen thrice to Bumrah.

“Jasprit is probably going to go down as one of the greatest fast bowlers to play the game. We’re finding that at the moment, how challenging he can be and it’s nice to play against that.”

“It’s going to be nice to look back at your career and tell the grandkids that you faced him so it’s not a bad series to play in with him. But hopefully, I only have to face a few more times,” he said.

Despite the disheartening defeat in Perth, Head believes that it was easier to get over the loss.

“The writing was on the wall pretty quickly in that Test match that we were pushing it uphill. So for me, it was reflecting in-game what we could have done better by the time that result had come.

“[It’s] a pretty easy one as such to move on and get over, and start talking about what’s coming. It’s probably the closer losses that hit you with a bit of surprise so that it takes a few days [to process],” he said.