Middle-order batsman Travis Head was left out of the playing XI for the first Test of the four-match series between India and Australia in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023. Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting explained the reason for the omission of Travis Head from the series opener at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.
Former Australian cricketers, including former captain Steve Smith, expressed concern over the exclusion of the left-handed batsman. Head arrived in India as the No. 4 Test batsman in the ICC rankings. He had a good summer at home, scoring 525 runs at an average of 87.50 against the West Indies and South Africa. He became the first Australian to end a Test summer with 500+ runs and a strike rate of over 95.
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They Would’ve Had Five Left-Handers In Their Top Seven – Ricky Ponting
Ricky Ponting revealed he was not surprised by the controversial omission of Travis Head, saying there are already four left-handed batsmen in the top 7 in the batting order.
“I’ve actually been wondering what they might do with their line-up. The fact that they played Matt Renshaw in Sydney (in the last Test), to me meant that they had probably had other plans in mind for him,” Ricky Ponting told the ICC Review podcast.
“If they’re going to keep him in, they couldn’t really afford to keep Travis Head in either, because they would’ve had five left-handers in their top seven, which probably would’ve played into Ravi Ashwin’s hands. Ashwin loves, as we know, bowling to left-handers. The other side of it is that Travis’ record outside of Australia, and particularly in the subcontinent, is nowhere near as good. So when you put all those pieces together, I actually wasn’t that surprised,” he added.
Travis Head made his debut against Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in 2018. The southpaw has struggled in Asia, scoring 213 runs in 7 matches with a poor average of 21.30 and a best score of 72.
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