Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 4 (ANI): Ahead of their opener in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 against Oman, Australia right-arm seamer Pat Cummins said that although opener Travis Head has an unconventional batting style but it has helped him score a heap of runs for the side.
Since the last T20I World Cup, Head has scored 311 runs in nine matches at an average of 34.55 and strike rate of 166.31, with a fifty and best score of 91.
In the recently concluded Indian Premier League 2024, the southpaw was in phenomenal form scoring 567 runs at a strike rate of 192.2. Known for his explosive starts, Head has dominated the powerplay with a scoring rate of 209.4.
The fast bowler asserted Head exactly embodies the type of player that Men in Yellow needs.
"Travis exactly embodies the type of player that we want in our team. It's someone who does [things] a little bit differently but plays with a level of freedom, backed up by years of scoring runs and absolute skill. Great team-mate. Great around the environment. Has fun. Those attributes just shine through with someone like Travis, and hopefully, part of his success is because of the environment and the people around him and [him] feeling like he's supported to just go out and be himself. If we say that the team environment you guys have created has allowed Head to express himself," Cummins said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo's The Cricket Monthly.
Further, the 31-year-old elaborated on the left-hand batter's batting technique.
"Look, with someone like Travis, it's easy to overlook that he scored something like 10,000 first-class runs. It's a pretty easy narrative to think because he might look unconventional. That, oh, he's not going to score runs, or when he fails, oh, of course, he's going to fail because of his technique. But you overlook that [his technique] has been crafted by thousands and thousands and thousands of runs, averaging over 40, being on top of his game for so long," the Australian ODI skipper added.
In the end, Cummins said the Australian team encourages him to play on his strengths and work on his weaknesses.
"People get really caught up in the technique side of things to the detriment of players. So we just encourage him to play to his strengths and work around his weaknesses. People try and change players like that into a certain mould where you can understand if things go wrong, you can have ways players or coaches can explain it. Whereas we don't want to overcomplicate it with someone like Trav. [We tell him] You have done the time, you have got a body of work behind you, you just go and shine and you do it your way. And we don't care if you get caught out at gully flashing one or you snick off one because you are trying to block, you are still out either way. You might as well try and score a few runs,"
Australia has been grouped in Group B along with arch-rivals England, Oman, Scotland and Namibia.
Earlier this month, Australia named their squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup with Mitchell Marsh as team skipper.
Australia squad: Mitchell 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.Travelling
Reserves: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Matt Short. (ANI)
