The freedom of not having played much T20 cricket gave Travis Head the ‘open mind’ he needed to capture some stunning form in the IPL
Travis Head went into the Indian Premier League with the same game plan as he does when playing for Australia, so it’s no surprise he’s hoping that formula can produce similar success at another World Cup.
Having played just 14 T20 matches over the preceding two years due to his longer form international commitments, the player of the match in the past two finals of men’s ICC events was nabbed for A$1.2m by the Daniel Vettori-coached Sunrisers Hyderabad for IPL 2024 off the back of a sensational 50-over World Cup in India last year.
He didn’t disappoint either, reprising his destructiveness from Australia’s ODI triumph last November – which included a sensational 120-ball 137 in the final – to dominate IPL attacks alongside young Indian opening partner Abhishek Sharma.
Head was the most prolific of the lot in the Powerplay (402 runs striking at 208.29) in a fast-scoring tournament where champions Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, his Sunrisers and Delhi Capitals scored their runs at a quicker rate than any other teams in IPL history.
The 30-year-old believes the freedom of not having played a lot of T20 cricket over the past two years gave him the “clean slate” he needed to play the way he wanted to play.
“The last 12 months has been a different role being at the top,” he told cricket.com.au in Barbados ahead of Australia’s tournament opener against Oman on Wednesday (Thursday morning AEST).
“I went in there (to the IPL) with an open mind and I think a decent blueprint where I was able to execute a few times.
“It’s been really nice to have a big block of T20 cricket as well, it’s something that I haven’t done over the last four or five years with prioritising a bit of red-ball but it all worked out (with) the right timing and it’s nice to be in a T20 team.”
That blueprint was what had already served him so well for him in Test and one-day arenas that are “still the fundamentals around T20 cricket”.
“Every format sort of helps the other,” he said.
“I went into the IPL wanting to try and play the role that I play for Australia.
“The role that I’ve played in this team both in one-day and T20 cricket has been pretty set out in the last 12-18 months on the style that the team wanted to play and how I fit into that role.
“I was very fortunate obviously to have Dan (Vettori, Australia assistant coach) and Pat (Cummins) with me in Hyderabad and wanting to play pretty similar game style.
“So as long as I’ve tried to execute the best way I could, I felt like I fit that role well and it was something that I was accustomed to and then I drew back on a few of the things that worked well in a couple of series that we’ve played in India in the last couple of years.”
Head joined the rest of the World Cup squad in Barbados over the weekend after a returning to Australia for a brief stopover at home following the loss to KKR in the IPL final.
The left-hander had a lengthy hit at a main training session at the Three Ws Oval on the island’s west coast, and says the formidable consistency he, Warner and captain Mitch Marsh have built in limited-overs cricket since late 2022 – the major factor keeping breakout IPL star Jake Fraser-McGurk out of the World Cup squad – will again be key in the Caribbean if Australia are to take home a second men’s T20 title this month.
“That top three, we’ve been able to get off to some really, really good starts,” Head said.
“So that’ll be the key again, we want to attack the Powerplay and hopefully one of the three of us can come off each time and set a platform up for the rest of the boys.
“I feel like a bit was spoken about the impact player (in the IPL) but depending on where our team falls, you could have Cummins and ‘Starcy’ (Mitchell Starc) at eight and nine, and those two can hold a bat.
“I feel like every team is pretty stacked in that direction; all the really big teams that six, seven and eight can all bat and bat well so I think that lends itself … to try and be as attacking as possible.
“I understand that there’s some world class bowlers so it’s not going to be as easy as just swinging at everything, but I’d like to try and get off to the best start we can.”
“That relaxed mindset, especially going out and playing the role that I want to play in this team, it’s not going to come off every time, but I try and have confidence around that.”
2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup
Australia’s squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Australia’s Group B fixtures
June 6: v Oman, Kensington Oval, Barbados, 10.30am AEST
June 9: v England, Kensington Oval, Barbados, 3am AEST
June 12: v Namibia, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua, 10.30am AEST
June 16: v Scotland, Daren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia, 10.30am AEST
Super Eights, finals to follow if Australia qualify
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