Steve Smith Or Travis Head; Who Should Lead Australia In Champions Trophy?

Anurag Dasgupta

Head or Smith, who should lead Australia? [Source: @Arnavv43/X.Com] Head or Smith, who should lead Australia? [Source: @Arnavv43/X.Com]

Well, the inevitable has happened and there are reports coming that perhaps Australia's biggest match-winner, Pat Cummins has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy due to an ankle injury he sustained during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Vs India. The captain of the team hasn't resumed bowling and there is no chance that he gets a hundred percent fit for the tournament.

Not only Cummins, but Josh Hazlewood is also likely to miss the tournament, and the Aussies will enter the tournament with a lot of inexperience. Cummins' absence will be drarly missed by the Kangaroos as he is not only a terrific bowler, but a great captain as well.

In his absence, it has been reported that Steve Smith or Travis Head could be made the captain of the side, but who is a better choice? let us dive into it.

Steve Smith captaincy records in ODIs

Matches
Won
Lost
Win percentage
58302551.72

Smith has led in 58 ODI matches and has won 30 of those. Interestingly, he has lost 25 and 3 matches were no result, taking his win percentage to 51.72. Despite leading his side in 58 outings, Smith has never captained Australia in World Cups.

Pros of Smith becoming the ODI captain

He is known more for his Test captaincy prowess and is yet to truly justify his ODI leadership. However, since he has prior experience of leading in ODIs, Smith should be the front-runner. Plus, he is tactically a brilliant leader, as witnessed in Tests and he could bring in the same thing in the ODIs as well.

Travis Head captaincy records in ODIs

Travis Head has led Australia in T20Is in a few games, but has never captained them in ODIs. As a result, his inexperience in leading the national side could be a major factor in Head not getting the captaincy role for Champions Trophy.

Pros of Head becoming the captain

However, what works in his favour is that he bats without any fear, and if he is appointed the captain, the southpaw would want everyone in the side to have an aggressive approach and bat without any fear.

Conclusion

Travis Head may be an exceptional batter, but he hasn't led Australia in the ODI format. This inexperience may lead to him losing the captaincy opportunity. On the other hand, Smith has ample experience of leading the Australian team across formats and the selectors are likely to go in with a tried and tested formula and are likely to appoint the experienced leader, Smith as the captain to replace Pat Cummins.