"I think it just creates too much bullsh*t" - Travis Head refuses to indulge in conversation on opening position amid BGT 2024-25
Australia batter Travis Head has refused to get into the debate about his batting position in the team. The southpaw reckoned it would create friction whatever opinion he gave on the subject.
Head emerged as one of the contenders to replace David Warner at the top after the selectors announced that Steve Smith would return to No. 4. The left-hander put his hand up to open but the selectors decided to anoint Nathan McSweeney instead, opting to keep Head in the middle order.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, the South Australian said:
"I don’t think it needs to be spoken about. I think it just creates too much bullsh*t really. That’s just my point of view. This happened to me the first time when I backed up a couple of mates - Marcus, Harris and a few others - who open the batting, and I come out and say ‘Yes, I do want to open the batting,’ and that creates a headline."
The star batter asserted that at the end of the day, he wants what is best for the team but doesn't want to give the media an opportunity to twist his words.
"If I then say ‘no,’ which I did in support of those guys, and at that time, I had conversations where I knew I wasn’t opening the batting, so I was honest in the media. But when it was reverted around this year, it’s been ‘He never wanted it in the first place,’ which isn’t true. I want whatever is right for the team, but in the way I answered it, people interpret it in certain ways. So I’m done with talking about that conversation."
The 30-year-old opened in Tests during the tour of India last year when David Warner returned home due to an injury. In five innings as an opener, he averages 55.75 with 223 runs.
"Don’t really care where I bat if I’m honest" - Travis Head
Head also credited the management for swaying away from asking him to play a certain way and do so according to the situation. In the same interview, he added:
"I’ve never worried too much about where I bat, I don’t really care where I bat if I’m honest, I’m happy to bat where I best fit for the team. At the moment, it’s at five and it has been for a while. I’m playing a certain way. I’m not forcing it, and they haven’t directed me to say ‘Hey, this is the way we want you to play,' it comes naturally, and they said from the start they want me to play the way I see the game and attack the game the way I see it.”
Australia are under pressure to level the five-Test series against India and will resume the battle in Adelaide, with the second Test beginning on December 6.