Former Australian captain Ian Chappell has cautioned Pat Cummins against giving the opening spot to Travis Head against India in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Since the retirement of David Warner, Steve Smith as an opener but he is unlikely to get the support to take up the role. Usman Khawaja has backed Head to be his new opening partner but Chappell feels that Australia should not make him open the innings on the basis of his success in T20Is and ODIs.
"Head opening in Test cricket is based on his unbridled success facing the new ball in both 50-over and T20 cricket. There's no doubt Head, with his ultra-aggressive style, is the ideal player to open in the two short forms of the game. However, Test cricket is an entirely different proposition," Chappell wrote in his column on ESPNCricinfo.
"Any move to open with Head that is designed to unsettle Jasprit Bumrah is asking a lot of the batter. Bumrah, and to a lesser extent Mohammad Siraj, are unlikely to be battered into altering their attacking mentality," said Chappell.
Chappell also pointed out that skipper Rohit Sharma may introduce Ravichandran Ashwin early on in the innings to nullify the threat posed by Head.
"The wily R Ashwin is unlikely to be panicked by an opponent's ultra-aggressive approach. The argument could be mounted that opening with Head means he'd be more settled facing Ashwin with some runs on the board. On the other hand, a smart opposing captain can utilise the offspinner with a newish ball," he said.
"Amongst any argument to use Head as a Test match opener, there's a compelling counterpoint," the 81-year-old concluded.
Head’s Test record against India
The 30-year-old has a good record against India scoring 715 runs from 10 Tests at an average of 42.05 including one century and three fifties. He scored a match-winning 163 in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 final against India.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy is set to commence on November 22 at Perth Stadium. The last two times India toured Australia, they have won the Test series.
