Cricket-Australia's Head says IPL form no guarantee for World Cup success

FILE PHOTO: Cricket – ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 – Final – India v Australia – Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India – November 19, 2023 Australia’s Travis Head celebrates after reaching his century REUTERS/Andrew Boyers/File Photo

(Reuters) – Travis Head has decimated bowling attacks in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year but the Australian tempered expectations ahead of next month’s Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States, where turning tracks could make batting tougher.

Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Head has scored 533 runs in 11 IPL matches so far, with only Virat Kohli (542) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (541) above him, and the 30-year-old’s aggressive approach has marked him out as one to watch at the June 1-29 World Cup.

He hit an unbeaten 30-ball 89 as Hyderabad thumped Lucknow Super Giants by 10 wickets with 62 balls to spare on Wednesday, but Head said his blistering form on flat Indian wickets would not automatically translate to similar pyrotechnics elsewhere.

“Whenever you’re playing, you want to be as consistent as you can, you want to be getting runs. It’s nice to be playing well (but) that’s not going to guarantee anything in the West Indies,” Head told reporters.

“I think we’ll face a fair bit of spin in the Caribbean and the wickets might become tougher as the tournament goes on.

“I’m very pleased I was able to play spin tonight and the things I’m working on in training are somewhat working at the moment. But I’m trying to stay relaxed as I have done for the last couple of years and be ready to go.”

Hyderabad, who posted the biggest IPL total earlier this season with 287-3 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, chased down Lucknow’s total and finished with 167 for no loss – the highest 10-over score in men’s T20 cricket.

Head’s opening partner Abhishek Sharma made an unbeaten 75 from 28 balls, with the duo smashing a combined 14 sixes and 16 fours.

“I’m lost for words,” Lucknow skipper KL Rahul said. “We’ve watched that kind of batting on TV, but this was unreal.”

Third-placed Hyderabad’s seventh win in 12 games kept them firmly in the hunt for the playoffs, while the result ended the hopes of five-times champions Mumbai Indians.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)