Off his head - The country's favourite player delivers yet again to put his nation in a winning position

Travis Head is at the peak of his powers in the same way Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Steve Smith flayed bowling attacks at their pomp.

When he’s on strike, it’s a different game. Length balls which others defend, Head slices to deep point. Or flicks to deep square leg. Or drives down the ground. Whatever he feels like, really.

His wagon wheel only tells part of the story. Combine it with a pitch map and you will note the regularity to which he cuts off middle stump.

Staying legside of the ball is a Phil Hughes method. It increases the risk of being bowled, minimises LBW, and knowing where your off stump is can be difficult.

None of this bothers Head. The only coaching manual he cares about is his own one.

It wasn't long ago Head's style was high risk, high reward. Now the balance has shifted to mostly high reward, minimal risk. The greater risk is sitting and shuffling across the crease like Marnus Labuschagne or Usman Khawaja.

Nobody is saying Khawaja and Labuschagne should try and emulate Head - or vice versa - but the intent to score from ball one is a transferable mindset, at least in theory.

Labuschagne's workmanlike attitude is commendable, but what was true before Adelaide remains so now: That Australia needs more from its number three.

Looking at Head boss the game is not dissimilar from greats of the past.

Remember Ponting at his best? 13 Test tons at 75 across 2005 and 2006. What about Clarke and his nine centuries across 2012 and 2013?

And then there was Smith, who between 2013 and 2015 piled on 15 Test tons at a rate of almost one every two matches.

These numbers are phenomenal, and Head - who has nine Test hundreds - may not ever have the consistency of these hall of famers, but his rapid rate of scoring makes up for it.

Of his five scores of 150 or more, Sunday's was by far his quickest. In Adelaide he saw it like a beach ball. Today he saw it like Jupiter.

The point is not that Head is Ponting 2.0 - don’t worry - rather it’s right now, he’s making it look as easy as any Australian batter of the 21st century did at their best.

As stats guru Ben Jones noted, since the 2021/22 Ashes, against balls on or outside the off stump Head averages 77 at a strike rate of 101.

In essence, just like Ponting, Clarke and Smith, good balls are no longer good when bowling to Head. He can score off just about anything. The margin for error is negligible.

Head is also like Warner in that he can open up his body and cut off length. His front foot rarely shifts further across than leg stump. It’s why Warner regularly had a deep point, a position deployed for Head almost from ball one.

Aside from Warner, Head and Adam Gilchrist are the only Australian batters of the modern era who could have scored their last 381 Test runs from 402 balls as Head has since the second dig in Perth.

At 30, the sense is Head has many more like this to come. India must be sick of him. He averages 52 against Kohli and co from more than 1100 runs.

Not even Jasprit Bumrah, who took his 12th Test five-wicket haul on Sunday, could quell Head.

Bumrah controls the game but has little support. He can't bowl 45 overs in a day, and when he's off, India looks like a shell of a team. Like Richard Hadlee for New Zealand, there is only so much one man can do.

No bowler in Test history has taken as many wickets (190) as Bumrah has at a better average. And his returns in Australia are even better than they are overall.

He desperately misses Mohhamed Shami as his partner in crime, that's been clear since day one of the series.

The other storyline of day two? Steve Smith's ton. It was his first following a 24-innings drought, the longest of his career.

To continue the narrative, Smith at 35 is not unlike Ponting at a similar age.

He remains capable. His motivations are strong. But he won't be the batter he once was.

And that's OK, so long as he contributes and supports his teammates. In the World Test Championship Final 18 months ago, the duo came together with Australia 3-76. Both made tons in a huge partnership against India.

On Sunday, Head strode to the crease with the score 3-75. They put on 241, which was the fifth highest partnership for Australia against India in Tests.

It helped the hosts post 400 for the first time in exactly a year, a score which appeared fanciful after the Perth debacle.

And none of this would have been possible if not for Head, who is now the country's most popular and dynamic performer.