A glorious century marred by the manner of departure was the theme when Travis Head squared up to the media here at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
The southpaw’s 140 set Australia on a pedestal in the second Test, but talk centred around Mohammed Siraj’s send-off to the batter after castling him.
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“I was surprised by the reaction in terms of the situation of the game and the lead-up. There was no confrontation leading up to it, and I felt like it was probably a bit far at the time. That’s why I am disappointed in the reaction that I gave back, but I’m also going to stand up for myself. We are pretty civil with each other as teams, and that is why it was disappointing to see a couple of reactions after I was out,” Head said.
Elaborating about his special hundred, the batter said: “Yeah, I was very pleased with the way I started. I was very pleased with the way I was able to play against Ashwin. I guess at the start, with the field up, I picked my moments and manoeuvred the field. And then I sort of sensed where the game was at and thought it was a great opportunity to put some pressure on before that new ball and try to maximise.”