JUSTIN LANGER: Travis Head Australia’s new superstar opener ahead of India series after David Warner era ends

Travis Head is the most devastating opening batsman in the world right now.

Fears of David Warner retiring from the top of Australia’s white ball teams have been blown out of the water over the last 12 months by the extraordinary feats of his fellow left-hander Head.

The South Australian battered the Scots to all parts of the beautiful The Grange Oval in Edinburgh in their opening game and will likely do the same tonight.

Eighty runs in 25 balls is breathtaking in backyard cricket, let alone a T20 international. Although Scotland’s attack is less than world-class, it is the consistency of Head’s dominance that stands him head and shoulders above other players currently playing the game.

Earlier in the year, I was on the other end of a Head battering. Coaching the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, we came up against the Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad. Having posted a reasonable score, at the halfway point, we were relatively buoyant at our chances of securing a victory.

Nine overs later, not only had our hopes been extinguished, but we were all left scratching our heads in disbelief at what Travis Head had just done to our high-class bowling unit.

His innings was so destructive that he destroyed our net run rate, effectively costing us a place in the finals and leaving us spellbound at his talent, confidence, and mindset of all-out aggression from ball one.

At one point, he played a cricket shot that I had never seen.

Rocking onto his back foot to a good ball bowled by our international leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi, Head hit the ball over mid-off sailing about 50 metres over the long-off boundary.

Defying physics, such a shot is the product of strength, balance, skill, and arrogance (a word I use in this instance with the greatest of respect and admiration).

When I asked him about the shot after the game, he smiled and said in his laconic way: “Probably the best shot I have ever played in my life, coach, sorry about that.”

I then asked him about this approach he had been taking in white-ball cricket, and he simply told me: “I know that is how the Australian team wants me to play; I have taken up the challenge and practice it now, regardless of what team I am playing with, or against.”

Whether it’s against Scotland, hapless IPL teams, or in World Cup finals, this all-out approach is proving wonderous and bountiful, not only for Travis himself but also for the teams who are lucky to have him.

One of the most popular players amongst his peers, it is a joy to watch such courageous skill in action.

To this day, opening batsmen go to bed thinking about how they are going to counteract the fastest of bowlers; Head has turned this trepidation 180 degrees, as bowlers today have sleepless nights wondering how they are going to bowl to Australia’s dynamo opener.

It is them that are now scared, not the other way around.

I love it.