“He plays very aggressively, it was also my role,” says Adam Gilchrist on Travis Head

Melbourne [Australia]: Legendary Australian wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist said that he sees a bit of himself in the Australian opening batter Travis Head, considering how both of them played an aggressive brand of cricket with their bats.

Travis who made a comeback at the ICC World Cup after a long injury lay off made an impact in his first match against New Zealand with a quickfire 109 in 67 balls, with 10 fours and seven sixes.

Gilchrist lauded Travis for his ability to bludgeon a ball with his power. He also said that even though Travis can lose the traditional nature of a shot while playing, his power is still enough to help him score runs through boundaries and sixes and the legendary wicketkeeper enjoys this part of Travis’s game.

“In some ways. Obviously, he is playing very aggressively and that was my role,” Gilchrist told ESPNcricinfo.

“There are some shots he hits, where if I watch footage or myself, even when I was playing, it did not look like how it felt. When it was happening, it felt like a beautiful-looking shot, but on replay, it is actually just been bludgeoned and he has got that ability.”

“He can lose what we term the traditional shape of a shot, but because he is going so aggressively and he has got such power and great hand-eye coordination, he still gets the ball away. I really enjoy that part of his batting and watching it,” concluded Gilchrist.

Head has been a massive asset for Australia, be it as an opener in white-ball cricket or in middle order. Though Australia has no shortage of firepower, with David Warner, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith in the side, the side looks up to him for quick runs and he delivers them for the most part.

While Travis’s strike rate is in the 100s overall in ODIs and 140s in T20Is, it is Travis’s rapidly improving Test SR which catches one’s eyes, striking runs at over 86 in 2021, over 80 in 2022, and over 76 in 2023 in red-ball cricket.

This is a huge improvement from his pre-2021 numbers. In the phase of 2018-20, his strike rate of over 54 in Tests was once his peak. But now, Travis has put on a lot of work on his aggression, hitting and timing, which has resulted in his SR shooting up.

Head has been somewhat of a precursor to England’s ‘Bazball’ style under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum in this way. This year as well, he has struck 361 runs in nine ODIs with a strike rate of over 146, with a century and two fifties.

Head’s importance to Australia’s World Cup campaign was proven when he scored the century against Kiwis and had a quickfire 175-run stand with opener David Warner. The team chose to stick with him even when he was injured and did not name a replacement for him. The result is, that Australia has won five matches out of seven and looks on track to achieve a semifinal spot.

Gilchrist said that the batter has made an impact against NZ and his style demands that he is backed throughout the highs and lows of his career because the attacking game means that consistency will take a hit sometimes.

“He clearly made an impact against New Zealand. He is one of a number of important factors for Australia’s title hopes. His style is something that if you are on board with it you have to ride the highs and the inevitable lows,” he said.

“He would not necessarily get the big score every time and have the consistency when you are that style of player. It is about making an impact and with that comes getting out early sometimes. But as long as everyone is riding that journey with him…they will know that when he fires it is going to go a long way to helping Australia win,” added Gilchrist.

Australia is currently at third place in the points table with five wins and two losses, which translates to a total of 10 points.

Australia will play Afghanistan on Tuesday.