IND vs AUS, WC final 2023: Travis Head hits 5th ODI hundred, takes game away from India

Australia's Travis Head on Sunday has made his fifth ODI century in the final match against India. Head made 100 runs off 95 balls at a strike rate of 105.3, thus, taking the game away from the Men in Blue. He achieved the milestone in the match against India at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium. 

The left-handed batsman stitched a partnership with Marnus Labuschagne during the match. Head reached his hundred off 95 balls with a single off Kuldeep Yadav's bowling in the 34th over. Travis Head entered the game after the wickets of David Warner, Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith fell. The International Cricket Council (ICC) wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "A spectacular century from Travis Head lifts Australia in the CWC23 final (sic)."

This, however, is not the first time that Head has hit a 100 in an ODI match. He also hit a hundred against New Zealand at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. In the semi-final against South Africa, Travis Head was given the Player of the Match award. In this match, Travis Head scored 62 runs off 48 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes. 

With this, Travis Head became the third Australian cricketer after Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting to rack up a three-figure score in a World Cup final. Ponting was the first-ever Australian to hit a three-figure score after he hit a hundred against India in 2003 at Johannesburg's Wanderers Stadium.

Gilchrist, on the other hand, scored 149 runs off 129 balls against Sri Lanka in Barbados' Bridgetown in 2007. At the international stage, Head has joined the likes of Sir Vivian Richards (138 not out against England in 1979), Aravinda de Silva (107 not out against Australia in 1996), Mahela Jayawardene (103 not out against India in 2011) and Clive Lloyd (102 against Australia in 1975). 

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