Ahead of the Boxing Day Test, the Australian camp was sweating over their in-form batter Travis Head's fitness. Head has been miles ahead of other batters in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 and has made Indian bowlers toil hard in the middle. Head coach Andrew McDonald admitted there is a fitness concern around Head on December 24 but skipper Pat Cummins on the eve of Boxing Day Test named him in the playing XI. The southpaw cleared the fitness test after sustaining a quad strain in the Gabba Test. However, Cummins said that they might have to manage him a little when he's fielding.
"Trav's good to go, he'll play," Cummins told the media on Christmas Day. "He just ticked off some final things today and yesterday. But no worries about injury with Trav. He'll go into the game fully fit.
"I don't think you'll see too much management of him throughout the game. He just kind of plays as is. Maybe around fielding, if he's a bit uncomfortable, we will (manage him), but he's fully fit."
Head who often fields at forward square leg when the spinners operating may be fielding at a different position at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The pitch is likely to assist spinners and Lyon is expected to bowl a lot more overs, especially in the last three days of the Test.
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Cummins on Head's form of late
Cummins lauded Head who has been in tremendous form of late. He also feels fortunate that he does not have the headache to set field and bowl to him.
"It feels like the last 12 months, he's been in this unbelievable vein of form and he just keeps going on with it," said the 31-year-old.
"He's hitting the ball really cleanly. You can see the pressure that he shifts back onto the opposition literally from the first ball that he walks out there.
"I'm loving that he's in our team and I don't have to try to set a field and bowl to him. He's hitting the ball as well as I've ever seen anyone. So long may it continue."
Head has scored 409 runs at an average of 81.80 including one century and two fifties. He has scored runs at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 94.24.
