"It might be the first time that I don't agree with Dada" - Harbhajan Singh on where India went wrong while bowling to Travis Head

Harbhajan Singh believes the Indian bowlers should have bombarded Travis Head with bouncers at the start of his innings on Day 1 of the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

Head smoked an unbeaten 146 off 156 balls at The Oval on Wednesday, June 7. His knock helped Australia finish the day at a healthy 327/3 after being in a spot of bother at 76/3 at one stage.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Sourav Ganguly opined that India's only tactical mistake against Head was that they opened the field too quickly and released the pressure by allowing him to rotate strike easily instead of playing with his patience.

However, Harbhajan contradicted his former skipper, saying:

"No doubt Travis Head batted extremely well. Dada also said that Test cricket is all about playing patiently but the counterattack he did apart from showing patience was praiseworthy. But it might be the first time that I don't agree with Dada."

The former Indian spinner feels the southpaw's footwork might have gotten compromised had he been tested with short-pitched deliveries:

"I feel tactically the bouncers, that could have been used at the start, were not employed. They used it too late. If they had been used earlier, the feet do not go forward, no matter how great a batter you might be - whether it is Ricky Ponting or Sachin Tendulkar. Then the new ball could have been used by pitching it up."

Head was not tested with bouncers at the start of his innings. Former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting was also surprised by the Indian bowlers not targeting the free-flowing batter's weakness.

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"This knock will be remembered for a long time for the counterattack" - Harbhajan Singh on Travis Head's innings

Travis Head flayed the Indian bowlers all around the park.

Harbhajan Singh heaped praise on Travis Head for playing a belligerent knock:

"Once he got set, he not only hit the balls in his zone for fours, but he also created shots off deliveries that were not in his zone. This knock will be remembered for a long time for the counterattack."

However, the cricketer-turned-commentator reiterated that the South Australian batter's cause was helped by the Indian team's tactics:

"If the Indian team goes back to their dressing room and thinks about what could have been done better, they will only think that what they did when he was batting on 90, if they had done the same thing at the start, things could have been different."

Harbhajan pointed out that Head wasn't comfortable when he was bombarded with bouncers in his nineties. He highlighted that the centurion could have been dismissed on 99 as well when his ungainly pull went between the two fielders in the deep.