India vs Australia T20 International: Travis Head selection decision made as Steve Smith makes surprise move for ODI World Cup winners

Travis Head has not been selected for Australia’s T20 match against India after his teammates joked it would be ‘a miracle’ if he was available for the game after days of World Cup partying.

Head was Australia’s hero in Ahmedabad on Sunday as his mammoth 137-run innings secured Pat Cummins’ side world champion status after an absorbing final against India.

The Aussies are back in action just four days after that game, taking on India in the first of five T20 internationals, a series dubbed ‘ridiculous’ by Marnus Labuschagne, who has since returned home with a number of teammates.

But Head remains in India as part of Australia’s squad, alongside Steve Smith, Glenn  Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Josh Inglis, who all played a part in the ODI World Cup journey.

Mitch Marsh joked that he would view it as ‘a miracle’ if Head featured today, and his scepticism proved accurate with the batter sitting out the opening game. 

Head was Australia’s World Cup final hero, scoring 137 runs to beat India

The batter has deservedly been celebrating his side’s big win 

Mitch Marsh joked it would be ‘a miracle’ if Head was available for the first T20 match

India won the toss and captain Suryakumar Yadav elected to bowl first. In a surprise move, Smith opened the batting despite his typical position in the batting order being No 4.

Nothing will change the result of the recent World Cup final for the heartbroken host nation, but India were eager to exact some measure of revenge on Thursday night.

Yadav, ranked the world’s best T20 batter, is the only member of India’s playing XI from last Sunday’s 50-over final who has been selected.

He’s captaining an unrecognisable team with the likes of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah all rested. Matthew Wade captains the Aussies.

Australia: Matthew Wade (capt), Steve Smith, Matthew Short, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha.

India: Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna.