Travis Head: 10 things you need to know about the Royal Challengers Bangalore Batsman

Without a doubt, Australian players seem to outnumber contemporaries from other overseas contingents when it comes to participating in the IPL. The latest entrant from that never-ending list is Travis Head who made his debut in the cash-rich league against Mumbai Indians. After chipping in with a rapid 24-ball 37, he was benched for some time before being summoned to replace an out of form Chris Gayle during the home match against Rising Pune Supergiants.

Skipper Virat Kohli’s unbeaten century ensured that Travis did not have much to do in Royal Challengers Bangalore’s victorious outing. However, he is one batsman from whom we may hear a lot in the remainder of the season.

Let us take a look at the most interesting facts about the promising youngster.

1) Travis was born on 29 December 1993 in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. At 18 years of age, he made his first-class debut for the state team during the 2011-12 season. The left-hander showed plenty of fortitude to hold his own during the first few seasons and scored runs consistently.

2) Under acrimonious circumstances, a 21-year-old Travis became the youngest captain in his state’s history in the latter stages of the 2014-15 season. However, in the next season, he led with authority and steered South Australia to the Sheffield Shield final after 20 years.

3) Even though his team lost the final, Head was declared the Sheffield Shield Player of the Year. However, his leadership skills were on display much earlier when he captained the South Australia U-19 side to the national title in 2012-13 and was also awarded Player of the Championship.

4) Apart from being a hard-hitter, Travis is also a useful part-time off-spinner. His aggressive mindset is evident from the strike-rates of 61.86, 98.16 and 148.17 in first-class, List-A and T20 matches respectively. In addition to all that, he can also keep wickets.

5) Head has already played 44 first-class games and scored over 2500 runs at an average of 33. A free-stroking mindset has also translated to 609 runs from 25 T20s at a healthy average of 30.45.

6) He played in the 2012 U-19 World Cup on home soil when Australia lost in the final against the Indians led by Unmukht Chand. Travis had a disappointing tournament with the bat with just 172 runs from 6 matches.

7) Travis showed his class during a quadrangular domestic tournament for the National High Performance squad against Australia A, India A and South Africa A with 2 fifties as well as a maiden List-A ton.

8) He grabbed headlines in the 2015-16 Big Bash season following a breathtaking 53-ball century which made the iconic Adam Gilchrist to insert his image as the 44-year old’s Twitter profile photo. With 51 runs required off the last three overs, the flamboyant batsman scored all of the runs single handedly.

9) The southpaw made his international debut in a T20I series against India. Following a lackluster outing at his home ground, Head was dropped for the second match. But, he came back with a quickfire 19-ball 26 in Sydney. In both matches, he was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja and Australia were whitewashed 3-0.

10) Though he was part of the Delhi Daredevils squad in 2015, Travis could not get a game. Ahead of the 2016 IPL auction, there was a bit of confusion on whether they had actually released him. Eventually, he entered the auction and was picked up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore for INR 50 lakhs.