Why Is Travis Head Not Playing for Australia vs India in the 4th T20I?

India and Australia faced each other today in the fourth T20I of the five-match series at the Carrara Oval in Queensland. With both teams winning one game each so far, this match is important as the winner will take a 2-1 lead in the series. However, Australia are missing their opening batter Travis Head in this game, and Matthew Short is opening the innings with captain Mitchell Marsh.

The reason for Head’s absence is that Australia have already started preparing for the upcoming Ashes series at home against England. The first Test will begin on November 21, and several Test players, including Travis Head, are playing in the Sheffield Shield, Australia’s domestic red-ball tournament, to get ready for the big series.

The next round of Sheffield Shield matches will start on November 10, and Head will play for South Australia against Tasmania at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart. Australia will surely miss Head in the T20I series, but the Ashes is their main focus right now.

Also Read -[WATCH] Shivam Dube picks up massive wicket of Tim David during AUS vs IND 4th T20I

Glenn Maxwell Returns for Australia

Glenn Maxwell has replaced Travis Head in Australia’s line-up as the all-rounder returns after recovering from a freak injury he suffered in the nets before the T20I series against New Zealand last month.

Sean Abbott, who played the last match, is also missing as he has been released to take part in the next round of Sheffield Shield matches. Overall, Australia have made four changes to their playing XI for this game.

Australia Playing XI: Mitchell Marsh (c), Matthew Short, Josh Inglis (w), Tim David, Josh Philippe, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Ben Dwarshuis, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa

India Playing XI: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jitesh Sharma, Shivam Dube, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah