Travis will skip the white-ball series in Pakistan for family time and mental reset ahead of the Tests in India

Australia’s leading batsman Travis Head will not be part of the national team’s white-ball series against Pakistan at home as he plans to spend some quality time with his family to mentally refresh himself ahead of the much-anticipated Border Gavasakar Trophy 2024, a five-match Test series against India, starting from November 22 in Perth.

According to cricket.com.au, Head will enjoy “a rare clean break from cricket ahead of the opening Test against India at Perth Stadium from November 22, with his preparation for that series yet to be fully completed”.

Head, who is expecting his second child with wife Jess, will take a break from next month’s ODI series against Pakistan and will not feature in the subsequent T20 campaign against the same opposition.

The 30-year-old has been part of the Australian set-up in all three formats, but in the near future he will be hoping to prioritize his family in the coming days.

“I’ll probably make more decisions around family in the future, and what drives me to play is probably more my family and my teammates,” Head said during the official announcement of his one-year BBL deal to stay with Adelaide Strikers.

Most cricketers would like to get some playing time. But Head plans to stay away from the bat and relax before training with the squad again.

“I probably won’t hit for a while, I’ll probably just chill,” Head said.

He doesn’t see himself in the same shape as his Australian teammates like Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, who want to practice for hours in the nets to ensure they are ready for match day. Head, on the other hand, wants to get that hunger for runs, which means he needs to stay away from the nets to ensure he stays hungry for runs.

“If I bat every day, it gets boring, if that makes sense. I’m not built like Marnus (Labuschagne) or Smithy (Steve Smith) who can hit day in and day out. I want to be excited about the act of batting, I want to be hungry for runs,” he explained his process.

He is backing his technical game to help him overcome the big challenges after practicing it over the years, and just needs to work on his mental side to ensure he can deliver his best performances for the national team.

“I’ve been hitting quite a bit and I don’t need it. Over the years, I’ve found that sometimes I played better when the hitting was a little bit bothering me,” he said.

“I’m already thinking about it, but I think the mental refresh and walking into the nets… I’m someone who needs energy, who looks forward to batting and who is excited about batting,” he added .

He gave some insight into how he will train before the India series.

“I will continue to do some work in the gym and a bit of running, so I will do that over the next few weeks and as I get closer to whether it’s a Shield match or going to Perth (India Test) in preparation, I’m going to hit some more and start working on things,” Head concluded.

(with PTI inputs)