The Head that guides Australia to glory

Ricky Ponting in 2003. Adam Gilchrist in 2007. Travis Head in 2023. If Head doesn't score another ODI hundred, Australia won't mind. A World Cup final hundred, against India, at the world's biggest cricket stadium, silencing the most partisan 130,000-strong audience ever, Head was everything Australia would have loved him to be in the match of all matches.

The 29-year-old's century was only the seventh in a final in the World Cup's 48-year history, and the third by an Australian, after Ponting's 140* and Gilchrist's 149. Player of the match at the World Test Championship final in June for scoring 163 in a 209-run defeat of India at The Oval and now, back-to-back Man of the Match awards in the World Cup semi-final and final, Head is truly in a league of his own now. Two months ago, it would have been impossible to predict Australia would win the World Cup, that too led by an innings from Head who had been sidelined because of a left-hand fracture in the first place.

He travelled with the squad to India, missed the first five matches of the World Cup before announcing his arrival with a fearsome display of batting in a 67-ball 109 against New Zealand at Dharamsala. Head's scores since then are 11, 0, 10, 62, and now 137 in the final. As early as the 10th over came the indication that this could well be Head's day when he ran back from cover-point and stretched full length to catch Rohit Sharma's miscued hoick. But the real knockout punch came in the form of a belligerent hundred that only an Australian seems to be capable of at this stage. "What an amazing day! Just thrilled to be a part of it," said Head after Australia's three-wicket win on Sunday.

"It's a lot better than seeing the World Cup on the couch at home. I was a little bit nervous but Marnus (Labuschagne, who was unbeaten on 58) played exceptionally well and soaked all the pressure. It was a great decision to bowl first and the wicket got better as the game went on. It paid dividends and (it was) nice to play a role. Again, it is something I work hard on and nice to hold on and contribute in front of a full house."

At 47/3, Australia were in a pickle, looking for a stabilising innings but with Head, it's more like a get-out-of-jail card. He has been in this situation before too, in the semi-final on a two-paced Eden Gardens pitch where Australia needed a good start in a tricky chase of 212. In Kolkata, he couldn't go all the way and got dismissed on 62. This time, though, Head ensured another chance wasn't given to the hosts who had won 10 matches on the bounce and had mastered the method of dismissing opponents cheaply.

Head started on a guarded note, reaching his fifty in 58 balls with six boundaries and one six. But the next fifty came off 47 balls, propelled by another eight boundaries, most coming off his bludgeoning pull shots. It guided Australia to 185/3 by the 34th over, and even though Head was dismissed two runs short of the win, there was no ambiguity over who made the difference after all.