"I will put myself in this year and hopefully get picked up and get an opportunity" - Travis Head wishes to be part of IPL 2024
Australian opening batter Travis Head has divulged that he plans to include his name for the upcoming IPL 2024 auction and hopefully play in the tournament next year. Head has a solitary IPL stint to his name when he represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 2016 season.
Head was roped in by the three-time finalists for ₹50 lakh. He was also part of the 2023 auction, where he had a base price of ₹2 crore, but did not find any suitors.
Across the 10 matches, he scored 205 runs at an average of 29.29 and a strike rate of 138.51. Head has considerable T20 experience playing in the Big Bash League (BBL) and has also played 20 T20Is since making his debut in 2016.
Much like the rest of the cricketing world, Head views the 2024 IPL as an important precursor to the 2024 T20 World Cup, scheduled to be held in the Caribbean and the USA in June. Confirming that he will be part of the proceedings at the IPL auction, Head said ahead of Australia's World Cup semi-final clash against South Africa:
"I will be in. I was restricted a little bit on time last year with getting married. I will put myself in this year and hopefully get picked up and get an opportunity. It was nice to be involved in it a long time ago."
"This is not a format I have been involved in much over the years. It was nice to be back in South Africa and contribute to the game. I feel like the game has evolved now and, next year, we have a massive block out, where I can play a fair bit of white-ball cricket if I get picked up or find myself in some teams around the world, so this is a path that I wanna try to explore," he added.
Over the last couple of years, Head's stocks as a reliable player in ODIs and Tests have risen. He has been a massive presence in the middle order when it comes to red-ball cricket, reflected in the rise in rankings as well as Australia's recent World Test Championship (WTC) triumph.
Furthermore, he has cemented himself as a first-choice opener ever since Aaron Finch's retirement. Hoping to translate his recent success into the T20I format as well, Head said:
"Having put all the eggs in the red-ball basket for a period of time now, I feel like I am really in good space mentally in my game and if I can transfer through formats well then I am eager to explore what those opportunities are and get more experience and learn."
Travis Head has been named in the 15-man squad for the five-match T20I series against India, scheduled to take place after the 2023 ODI World Cup.
"It might be a blessing in disguise" - Travis Head on being hit on the hand by Gerald Coetzee right before the World Cup
The left-handed batter was not part of the first half of Australia's World Cup campaign as he was recovering from a fracture on his hand. Head was hit by a sharp Gerald Coetzee bouncer during Australia's tour of South Africa.
Stating that Coetzee did him a favor by injuring him, Head said:
"He did me a favour, I got four weeks at home with the family, so I got refreshed to come back. And, hopefully, I can be refreshed and energised and can perform at the back end of the tournament. It might be a blessing in disguise."
Head returned to the playing XI for the game against New Zealand in Dharamshala and marked his comeback with a century. However, he has scored only 21 runs across his next three innings.
"It's just making sure I try and get that right. It was nice to contribute in the first game, and it's been a bit lean in the last couple. I feel like I try and give myself the best chance to score off balls that I feel like I can and respect the ones in between. I think you have to do that. It's international cricket, so I don't think it's all guns blazing every time," Head said.
"You hope you're in good positions to score and put the bowlers under pressure, but if they bowl well you've got to be able to get through it. So it's definitely a balancing act. I feel like I'm in a good mindset to give myself the best chance to be as positive as I can be," he concluded.
Australia will take on South Africa in the second semi-final of the 2023 World Cup at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.