New Delhi: Australian cricketer Travis Head looms as Team India’s biggest threat in the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final, set to take place at Dubai International Stadium Tuesday.
So much so, that Indian fans have flooded social media with memes, highlighting how Head can give the team yet another nightmare.
Having played a crucial role in India’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy defeat this January, which ultimately led to their elimination from the World Test Championship, Head now finds himself once again standing in India’s path in a high-stakes knockout match.
The fear isn’t unfounded—his batting record against India speaks for itself.
In nine ODIs, he has scored 345 runs at a strike rate of 101.76. In the test matches, he has piled up 1,163 runs in 27 matches, while in the T20 format, he has scored 225 runs in eight games.
Head’s dominance over India isn’t a one-off incident; it’s a regular occurrence.
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Quite a threat
Indian cricket fans haven’t yet recovered from the 2023 World Cup final, where Head played a blistering 137 off 120 balls, dismantling India’s dreams of lifting the trophy.
It wasn’t just the runs but the way he scored them—fearlessly, aggressively and with complete control.
When India had Australia struggling at 47/3, Head walked in and flipped the script, ensuring that India’s unbeaten campaign ended in heartbreak.
Before that, his match-winning century in the 2023 World Test Championship final was another brutal reminder of his threat.
On a bouncy Oval pitch where most batters struggled, Head smashed 163 off 174 balls, setting up Australia’s title win.
This January, Australia won the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy by 3-1, shattering India’s WTC dreams. And, Head had a role to play.
He scored back-to-back centuries in the second and third tests of the series, with scores of 140 and 152, respectively. He was the leading run-scorer in the series, making 448 runs from nine innings at an average of 56.
Australia won the series after 10 years, securing their place in the World Test Championship final.
What makes Head particularly dangerous for India is his aggressive approach.
Indian bowlers rely on control and discipline, but Head disrupts that completely. They often find themselves on the backfoot when he is in full flow.
Notably, Head has been dismissed for a duck only once in his international matches against India. It happened on Day 1 of the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Jasprit Bumrah claimed his wicket.
Now, in the Champions Trophy 2025 semi-final encounter, stopping Travis Head is no longer an option—it’s a necessity for Rohit Sharma and his team.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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