Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has showered praise on Travis Head after Australia won the first Ashes Test against England by eight wickets at the Optus Stadium, Perth. Chasing 205 runs for the win, Head scored a blistering knock of 123 runs off just 83 balls to put the game to bed.

The left-hander took the onus of opening the innings on his shoulders and completed his century off just 69 balls to blow away the English attack. The visitors tried everything but Head was always one step ahead and smashed 16 fours and four sixes in his whirlwind innings.

Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “And I feel that when Travis Head gets on a roll, right, he wins too many games than anybody else in the current day and age of cricket. When Travis Head is in the zone and he gets going, it’s the maximum number of matches going around in world cricket right now. And that is quite a star achievement. And I really hope, from the side of an Indian cricket fan and an Indian cricket well-wisher, and obviously I don’t want Australia winning a lot, I really hope Australia doesn’t go the route of making Travis Head the captain at some stage.”

The former Indian all-rounder backed Head to find more success if he becomes Australia’s captain in the future

“If he becomes captain, I don’t know what all he will go on to achieve. I’m saying he’s got all the requisite leadership qualities, and as a batting inspirational, he can really take a team along. I hope, I mean maybe he could be a captain of a franchise before captaincy in Australia. Let’s see, hope and watch,” he added.

Ashwin noted that Head is mostly at his deadly best while playing in November. Head had also scored a match-winning hundred against India in the World Cup final in 2023 on November 19.

“I feel that in November, during Movember in Australia, after keeping a moustache, he takes on a slightly different form. I feel that in November, Travis Head completely cooks. Today, he completely cooked it, there’s no doubt. He played two or three shots, I posted a tweet, and he moved completely away from the stumps, with the distance from his front foot to the ball being at least a kilometer. From there, he hit it. Look at how he rattled them. He moved away, swung, didn’t connect fully with the bat, and the ball completely missed the set of stumps and went under the leg stump. Look at how it moved, look at how he hit it, and the bowler was completely rattled.”

The second Ashes Test will be played from December 4 onwards at the Gabba, Brisbane.