Estelle Vasudevan
Fearless is a buzzword you hear a lot in cricket. You hear it from coaches and captains, pundits and fans, it’s something every player and every team aspires to be. But what does it mean to truly be fearless? Someone should probably ask Travis Head.
He showed us exactly what to expect from him in this season of the IPL, in his first game for Sunrisers Hyderabad, smashing an 18-ball half-century, the fastest for the franchise (the record was broken four overs later by teammate Abhishek Sharma, who got there in 16 deliveries). It was a stunning exhibition of hitting, the runs flowing so fast you’d find it hard to match even on a video game. It was Head who set the pace up top with 62 off 24 as SRH racked up the highest total in IPL history of 277. Oh, by the way, this was a bowling line-up that featured Jasprit Bumrah.
That set the marker for what was to come in IPL 2024 from SRH, and especially Head. The previous record for the highest total in the IPL was 263 by Royal Challengers Bangalore. It had stood for 11 seasons, but SRH’s mark lasted only 22 games as they broke their own record with 287 against RCB. Head had played a support role when they hit 277 – as much you can call 62 off 24 a ‘support’ role – but he took the lead in this game, smashing 102 off 41. Suddenly, even 300 didn’t seem impossible in T20s.
A few days later, Head and Abhishek would shatter more records. They made the most runs in the powerplay in the history of T20 cricket, with 125 against Delhi Capitals. Head got 84 of those. They also had the fastest team 100 in men’s T20s, in just five overs. At a run-rate of 20.68, the century stand between Head and Abhishek was the quickest of the 283 century stands there have been in IPL history.
With each outrageous innings, you think, wow, that was crazy, but there’s no way he can pull something off like that again. It’s not realistic to expect Head to get a sub-20-ball fifty always. Right? And then comes a day like the one Head had against Lucknow Super Giants on May 8. The first innings went stutteringly for LSG, who put up 165 for 4. It was supposed to be a bit of a tacky pitch, SRH had faltered in chases before… and they mowed down that target in 9.4 overs.
Abhishek was the ‘slower’ batter among the two with 75* off 28. Head had a ridiculous 89* off 30. The chart below shows how IPL batters have gone in the powerplay this season. Bear in mind, it does not include SRH’s assault against LSG.
Even without the LSG game, Head is streets ahead of the others. Among the top ten run-scorers in the powerplay this season, Head has the highest average and the highest strike-rate, both by considerable margins. His true values are also quite staggering. He averages 10+ and strikes at 35+, and both of those would have only gone further north after the LSG game. Only Phil Salt and Sunil Narine are even remotely near him in terms of strike-rates among the top 10 batters this season.
Batters who score this quickly shouldn’t be getting these many runs. Normally, it shouldn’t be sustainable. But nothing about Head this season is normal. During his 89* against LSG, he became the third fastest ever to get to 500 runs in an IPL season. He got there in 252 balls, marginally behind Andre Russell (244 balls) and Glenn Maxwell (251 balls). Right now, he’s sitting on 533 runs in 264 balls, a strike rate of over 200, across 11 innings, with at least two more games left for SRH, and likely more than that because they look on track to qualify for the playoffs.
Fastest to 500 Runs in an IPL Season
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Head had always been a promising prospect at age-group level and managed to break into Grade A cricket at just 16, representing Tea Tree Gully District Cricket Club, an organisation he had been a part of from the age of 10.
The audacity with which he plays the game was present even back then. His Gullies captain Matthew Weaver recalls Head having no regard for reputations. “He didn’t care if a bloke had taken 200 or 300 Grade wickets. He just thought ‘at the end of the day it’s a red ball coming towards me and I’ll hit it for four’,” Weaver told Adelaide Now back in 2015.
Head soon rose up the ranks, performing well for his state and the Australia U19s, before quite surprisingly being named South Australia’s captain aged 21. He was chosen ahead of far more experienced candidates. The talent was always there but he couldn’t quite make it big enough in international cricket when he was first picked for Australia in 2016. All that changed in the latter part of 2021.
He was recalled for the Ashes after a year being out of the side, and promptly hammered 152 at better than a run-a-ball in Brisbane, sparking an unbelievable run of form. Commanding performances with the red ball followed, hitting his peak when he rescued Australia from a precarious 47 for 3 against India in the World Test Championship final, with a match winning 163.
He also hit a purple patch in limited-overs cricket in 2022. Between his return to the ODI side in 2022 and the 2023 ODI World Cup, he averaged 60.84 with a strike rate of 119.14. His performances were so impactful, the Australian selectors kept him in the World Cup squad even though he was injured, and certain to miss the early part of the tournament. He ended up missing five games, then promptly plundered 109 off 67 against New Zealand in his first game back.
But it was his Player of the Match performances (Indian fans look away now!) in the semi-final and final of the World Cup that nailed down his cult hero status.
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Head last played in the IPL back in 2016 and 2017. He never really got a good enough opportunity to cement his place in an RCB side that featured the likes of Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers and Shane Watson. But after his performance at SRH this season, there’s little doubt that he will be one of the hottest commodities in the tournament. There is little chance of SRH releasing him, but if he would have made it to a mega auction, the bidding for him would rival the speed of any of his innings.
In 2013, at the age of 20, Head’s rise could very well have been cut short as he was hit by a car in Adelaide after he had been out celebrating a win with his teammates. He suffered a concussion and needed more than ten stitches on his head and back. But a week later, he was playing for his club again. Predictably perhaps, he smashed 185 on his return.
That’s the thing about Travis Head. Nothing seems to faze him – accidents, injuries or coming face to face with the world’s best bowlers.
As the T20 World Cup draws near, there may just be a few bowlers spending sleepless nights at the thought of coming up against Head. After stunning, game-changing performances in every knockout game he’s played in international cricket over the last 18 months and the form he’s shown in the IPL, you wouldn’t put it past him to have another big tournament.
Stats by Varun Alvakonda (updated till May 6, 2024)
