Near Adelaide, at Tea Tree Gully: The place where you can find Head's heart

ADELAIDE: For some time now, Indian players and fans have been asking themselves the same question over and over again because Travis Head finds a way and shows the will to scupper India's hopes over and over again: "Where has this guy come from?"

- Ashish Magotra

There are some easy answers to that question but perhaps the most accurate one takes you on a 40-minute drive from Adelaide CBD (Central Business District). The flat roads give way to hilly terrain, the relatively crowded city landscape gets sparser and quieter with every passing kilometre. A left at the 170-year-old pub, The Gully, gets you closer. And when the trip finally ends you reach the Pertaringa Oval, the home of the Tea Tree Gully Cricket Club.

Tea Tree Gully is affiliated with the South Australian Cricket Association and is one of 13 premier clubs in the SACA competition. It is also Travis Head's club - the place where he learnt his cricket; the place where the then coach, former Australia allrounder Peter Sleep, asked him to abandon wicketkeeping because "there's only one slot for a keeper but six for a batter", and the place where he would return to till recently to work on his game.

On Monday, the Oval itself was a sight. A beautiful, clear day had dawned and a few kids were playing a casual game of cricket. They weren't talking about Head though. Rather, they were trying to replicate Rohit Sharma's bat swing.

"That's not how Rohit hits it," said one of the boys. "It is much smoother and the ball goes so much further. It is the timing, not the power."

That may be a sign of how Indian cricket has grown. But just as the boys wanted to learn from Rohit, many in India would like to learn from Head - a batter whose fearless approach to batting has driven fear into India in major competitions.

The early signs were all seen at the Pertaringa Oval. Head trained here from the age of 10 till 18, when he broke into the state ranks; even now many remember the sound of the ball hitting his bat.