Travis Head has not had the best start to the IPL campaign by his lofty standards. Since re-entering the league as part of SRH, he has scored 567 and 374 runs in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
Despite entering the ongoing campaign on the back of his Ashes heroics, Head struggled to get going. He scored 143 runs in six matches at an average of 23.83 and a strike rate of 144.44. Against CSK the Australian scored 23 runs off 20 balls, he didn’t capitalize on the start he got.
| SRH vs CSK Highlights | Scorecard |
Ambati Rayudu and Aaron Finch break down what has technically gone wrong with Head so far.
WHAT IS GOING WRONG?
Rayudu said Head is more focused on trying to hit the inside, rather sticking to his power, which is an offside attack. He felt the bowlers were also throwing a little fuller, which was not allowing him to play shots freely in the room.
“I think he’s waiting for the short ball to hit on the inside. I think that’s where he thought his weakness was and maybe he thought he should improve hitting more on the inside, and that’s where I feel like he just stopped focusing on what his real strength is, which is hitting offside.”
“I think the bowlers have started to do that too, they’re just bowling a little bit fuller, maybe starting from the off stump, not giving it too much space,” Rayudu said.
Finch felt that the use of slower deliveries meant that Head did not have one particular pace to work with, which is one of the biggest strengths of the SRH batter.
“I think the fact that teams now bowl the slower balls really early, so they don’t allow him to line up with one particular pace, that’s one of his big strengths. You think about how damaging he is in Test cricket. His wheelhouse is when you try and mix it up, which we determine. Good length ball, about 4th stump, so that’s where they give him so many options now, whereas they don’t give him so many options, they go slow, they take him that,” said Finch.
The former Australian captain also feels that the constant shuffling of deliveries has also hampered Head’s form this campaign.
“So just constantly mixing up the deliveries to not let him just line you up is so crucial. Because you know once he starts lining you up, he’s still going so hard, right? And that’s one of his big strengths, but it hasn’t quite clicked yet,” Finch said.
SRH will face DC in their next game on Tuesday, April 21.
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Published on:
19 Apr 2026 04:00 IST
