IND vs AUS 2023: Ricky Ponting Explains Reason Behind Australia’s Shock Call To Drop Travis Head For Nagpur Test

Legendary Ricky Ponting has explained the reason behind Australia’s decision to drop in-form Travis Head for the ongoing first Test against India at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur.

The decision from the Australian team-management has faced severe criticism from Australia’s cricket fraternity with several former cricketers including former captain Steve Waugh slamming the call. Head arrived in India as the number four Test batsman in the world and a fine summer at home.

The southpaw had smashed 525 runs at 87.50 against the West Indies and South Africa at home before arriving in India. The stunning run exploits made him the first Australian to finish a home Test summer with 500+ runs and a strike rate of more than 95.

His form, however, counted for little as Australia dropped him from the playing eleven in order to make rooms for  Peter Handscomb for the first time in four years.

Apart from Handscomb, Matt Renshaw also found a place in the playing eleven. The move, however, did not yield the desired results as Renshaw fell for a golden duck while Handscomb scored 31.

Ricky Ponting explains Travis Head’s omission:

With Travis Head’s omission from the playing eleven causing a stir in the Australian cricket fraternity, Ricky Ponting has explained the reason behind it. The former Australia skipper said that he was not surprised with the call as he said that Head was dropped because there would have been a significant amount of left-handers in the top order.

“The more I thought about it, the fact that they played Matt Renshaw in Sydney to me meant they probably had other plans in mind for him,” Ricky Ponting told the ICC Review podcast.

“Obviously, the most immediate plan was for him to bat in the middle order for Australia in this Test series against India.

“And when you look at that, if they’re going to keep him in, they couldn’t really afford to keep Travis Head in either because then they would have five left-handers in their top seven,” he added.

Speaking further, Ricky Ponting leapt in the defence of Australian selectors while saying that he was not bothered with Renshaw’s failure. The former skipper also pointed out Head’s poor record in the subcontinent.

The left-handed batsman averages only 21.30 in Tests in Asia since making his debut in the United Arab Emirates five years ago. His most recent scores in Asia are 14, 36, 8, 23, 26, 11*, 6, 12 and 5.

“The other side of it is that Travis’ record outside of Australia and on the subcontinent is nowhere near as good,” Ricky Ponting said.

“So when you put all those pieces together, I actually wasn’t that surprised … there’s been a bit of an uproar here in Australia about how could the selectors do this.

“I know (Renshaw) was out first ball today, I’ll forgive him of that.

“The other thing to keep in mind is they’ve been over here for what is just about a week now, so they’ve done a lot of training, the coaches and selectors would’ve kept an eye on training and watched who was coping with the spin better than others,” he added.

Meanwhile, India finished day one of the Test in the driver’s seat. The hosts bowled out the visitors for 177 before finishing the day on 77 for 1. Skipper Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten fifty to lead his team’s charge with the bat.

Also Read: IND vs AUS: Ravichandran Ashwin Surpasses Anil Kumble For Historic Record In The Day 1 Of 1st Test Against Australia