Australia recalls Travis Head

Nagpur, The Gulf Observer: Australia’s selectors have backflipped on their decision to leave out Travis Head in Nagpur by selecting him in Delhi because of his bowling ability. Matthew Kuhnemann has also leap-frogged Ashton Agar to make his Test debut as Australia select three specialist spinners and one fast bowler for the first time since 2017 with Cameron Green and Mitchell Starc both ruled unfit.

Australia’s selector on tour Tony Dodemaide spoke to the media shortly before the toss in Delhi to explain the selectors’ decision-making. Having left Head out in Nagpur as a horses-for-courses selection due to his poor batting record on the subcontinent, and his struggles at the training camp in Bengaluru, Dodemaide explained that Head had been included in Delhi at the expense of Matt Renshaw because Australia felt they were missing a fifth bowling option in Nagpur.

“Renners is really stiff,” Dodemaide said. “There’s no slight on him. He’s very much a valued player in our team planning moving forward. He was quite stiff, particularly in the first innings [in Nagpur]. So he hasn’t been dropped for those performances.

“The key thing where we see the difference this time around is that Heady does offer quite a valuable option as a fifth bowler and that’s where we felt we were stretched in parts of the game in Nagpur and that fifth bowling option is something that we value, albeit another spinner. But we expect spin to dominate in any case.”