Travis Head has decimated bowling attacks in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) but the Australian tempered expectations ahead of the 2024 Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States, where turning tracks could make batting tougher.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batter has scored 533 runs in 11 IPL matches so far, with only Virat Kohli (542) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (541) above him, and the 30-year-old’s aggressive approach has marked him out as one to watch at the June 1-29 T20 World Cup.
He hit an unbeaten 30-ball 89 as Hyderabad thumped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 10 wickets with 62 balls to spare on Wednesday, but Head said his blistering form on flat Indian wickets would not automatically translate to similar pyrotechnics elsewhere.
“Whenever you’re playing, you want to be as consistent as you can, you want to be getting runs. It’s nice to be playing well (but) that’s not going to guarantee anything in the West Indies,” Head told reporters.
“I think we’ll face a fair bit of spin in the Caribbean and the wickets might become tougher as the tournament goes on.
“I’m very pleased I was able to play spin tonight and the things I’m working on in training are somewhat working at the moment. But I’m trying to stay relaxed as I have done for the last couple of years and be ready to go,” he added.
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Hyderabad, who posted the biggest IPL total earlier this season with 287-3 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, chased down Lucknow’s total and finished with 167 for no loss – the highest 10-over score in men’s T20 cricket.
“It’s nice to just come here and contribute. I wasn’t sure if I was going to play. Nice to get a go, nice to be performing, and the partnership with Abhi has been fantastic. He’s such an exciting talent for Indian cricket, he’s exceptional. We complement each other well and he’s very, very enjoyable to be around. He’s so excited and thinks about the game, he’s got loads of energy, so he’s a great partnership to be involved in,” Head said of the opening stand before he added that the middle order has also played a key role for SRH.
“I guess the Kings game (against Punjab Kings) is a blueprint for us in the way we’re able to go about the game. It’s not always going to work at the top of the order, we are going to lose wickets, but we want to be brave through the whole middle. Nitish [Reddy] has played some unbelievable innings, obviously we’ve got Klassy (Heinrich Klaasen) and (Abdul) Samad tops it off for us…
“Everyone is high on confidence, everyone is playing well, we’re not dependent on the top order. Yes we are playing well but I don’t think it defines the team. I feel like we’ve got a really strong middle order…we’re very well rounded at the moment,” he concluded.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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