Head blasts century off 39 balls as Maxwell takes break from IPL

Travis Head has blasted a century off just 39 balls to lift Sunrisers Hyderabad to victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore after Glenn Maxwell took an indefinite break from the Indian Premier League citing mental and physical fatigue.

Maxwell and Head both have one eye on the Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean and United States in June, where they will be key components of Australia’s quest to regain the title they won in the UAE in 2021.

Encouraged to go his hardest by captain Pat Cummins and coach Dan Vettori, Head spent just 13 overs at the crease while clattering eight sixes and nine fours at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

His innings, backed up by a percussive 67 from 31 balls by Heinrich Klaassen, vaulted Sunrisers to 3-287, a total beyond the reach of RCB despite an opening stand of 80 in little more than six overs by Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis.

The Sunrisers’ total was the highest in IPL history, while the total match aggregate of 549 runs was the biggest in all T20 matches. Head’s century was the fourth fastest in competition history.

It might have been the ideal platform for Maxwell, but he had dropped out of the side as RCB struggle at the bottom of the IPL table.

Travis Head celebrates his century.

“After the first few games hadn’t gone to plan personally for me, it was a pretty easy decision,” Maxwell told reporters after the game. “I went to Faf and the coaches last game and said it was time to probably try someone else. I have been in this situation before in the past, where you can keep playing and dig yourself into a hole. Now is actually the best time to give myself a mental and physical break.”

Scores of 0, 3, 28, 0, 1 and 0 helped lead Maxwell to the conclusion he needed time out of the side, with no certainty as to his return. RCB also left out Cameron Green, leaving a huge portion of their salary cap on the bench.

“With our results this year, it was quite an easy decision,” Maxwell said. “We haven’t been playing as well as we would have liked as a team and the results show that. My personal results have reflected the results we have had. Pretty big deficiency straight after the powerplay and the middle overs, which have been an area of strength of mine the last couple of seasons.

“I felt like I wasn’t contributing in a positive way and it felt like, with the position we find ourselves at the table, to give someone else the opportunity to try their wares and hopefully, someone can make the spot their own.

“If I’m required again in the tournament and I can get back into a solid mental and physical space where I can have an impact still for RCB [I will be available again].”

For Head, who had his own fatigue concerns towards the end of the home summer, the return to India and the opening slot has helped provide a clear picture of what he’s trying to do.

“[Our total] needs a three in front of it, does it now?” Head quipped when asked about how much higher Sunrisers could go. “It’s proper batting. We’ve wanted to be exciting the whole time, and we’ve wanted to take the game on, and Pat and then Dan have put pressure on the batting line-up to make sure we try and maximise the powerplay and then keep going.”

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