"Must Have Been Crook Or Injured...": Australia Great's Strong Quotes On Batter's Exclusion Against India

Legendary Australian cricketer Allan Border is still at pains to understand why middle-order batter Travis Head was excluded from the side that suffered an innings and 132-run defeat against India in the opening Test at Nagpur. Head has been in sublime form since the 2021/22 Ashes series, where he was adjudged Player of the Series after Australia won the five-Test series 4-0. He was the joint second-highest run-getter during the three-Test series at home against South Africa recently, which Australia won 2-0.

But despite achieving several milestones in the past one year, Matt Renshaw got the selectors' nod ahead of Head for the opening Border-Gavaskar Test. Renshaw couldn't make an impact in Nagpur, getting dismissed for 0 and 2 respectively.

Border felt the Australians were "overthinking" their strategy, and decided to drop Head only because of his two mediocre runs during the previous tours of Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

"I thought he (Head) must have been crook or injured himself.... I just couldn't believe that Travis Head could be left just on a win that he didn't play very well in India last time or when they were in Sri Lanka," Border said on SEN Radio on Thursday.

"That's maybe a case, but you're allowed to improve, and Travis Head is one of those players that has improved and he showed that during the summer." Border added the Australians had got their selection for the Nagpur game horribly wrong.

"I think we overthought some of the stuff, worrying about all little gremlins about the pitch... that's what you expect when you go over there, they got the plans and the team wrong in the first game." With pace bowler Mitchell Starc and all-rounder Cameron Green expected to be fit for the second Test in New Delhi starting