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Australian batter Travis Head returns to the Indian Premier League (IPL) after a seven-year gap, with the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) making a winning bid of ₹6.80 crore for his signature at the 2024 mini-auction in Dubai on Tuesday.
Head, the fourth player to be named in the 2024 mini-auction, kickstarted an instant bidding war between SRH and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), with both franchises in need of a top-order batter.
Head recently set the ODI World Cup alight with his performances after missing the first half of the tournament. He scored a memorable ton in the final against India to help Australia claim their record-extending sixth title and was crowned the ICC Player of the Month for November. The left-handed batter was also part of the recently concluded T20I series against India, away from home.
Head has played 107 T20 matches in his career so far and has been particularly prolific in the Big Bash League (BBL) with the Adelaide Strikers. He initially batted in the middle order but has now found success as a top-order batter of late.
The Australian has amassed 2,494 runs at an average of 27.71 and a strike rate of 134.15 in his T20 career so far. Apart from his explosive batting, he also bowls handy off-spin, claiming 22 wickets at an economy rate of 8.45.
Travis Head has 10 IPL appearances to his name so far
Head represented the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for two seasons from 2016 to 2017, making 10 appearances and scoring 205 runs at a strike rate of 138.51.
SRH currently have an opening combination of Mayank Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma. However, the franchise shuffled things up in the 2023 season, with the likes of Harry Brook and other batters being promoted in a bid to rediscover a working formula.
The 2016 IPL champions now have a plethora of combinations to test out with Head being part of the squad now. SRH are in desperate need of a spark after finishing at the bottom of the table twice across the last three editions.
Is ₹6.80 crore a justified price tag for Travis Head? Let us know what you think.
