"If it wasn’t for his wedding" - Ricky Ponting reveals Travis Head was on radar to play for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has said that he was keen to pick Travis Head for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023 if not for the batter's wedding plans. However, he added that the left-handed batter is in pole position to get an IPL contract ahead of the next edition.
Head has grabbed the spotlight after his heroics in the 2023 World Cup final against India at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday. After taking an impressive catch to get rid of Rohit Sharma, the left-hander struck an imperious 137 off 120 to steer Australia to a six-wicket victory and their sixth World Cup title.
On 7 News, Ponting said that he would have picked Head for the Capitals, but the owners weren't fine with the player delaying his arrival by three weeks.
"Travis has done everything right to make sure he gets a deal this year. He would have had a deal last year if it wasn’t for his wedding. His wedding got in the middle of it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pick him up at Delhi.
"I rang him and told him I was going for him in the auction, and he said, ‘just to let you know, I’m getting married two weeks into the IPL.’ He would have missed three weeks at start of tournament, which our owners weren’t willing to take that gamble on."
The left-handed batter has played in the IPL before, in 2016 and 2017, when he was part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore. The 28-year-old has 205 runs in 10 games across two seasons at a strike rate of 139.81.
Ricky Ponting on Australia's frontline bowlers' possibility of playing in IPL 2024
With Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins likely to put their names for IPL 2024 auction, Ponting reckons their workload will be looked at before that:
"They go to NZ after the summer, then IPL, then T20 World Cup after that. … there’ll be a few questions asked of the high performances guys at Cricket Australia as to what the expectations might and might not be for fast bowlers in the IPL auction."
Australia's fringe players are currently involved in a five-match T20I series against India.