‘One concern Australia will have…’ – Former Australia skipper raises concerns despite comeback of Travis Head due to possible removal of Marnus Labuschagne

The five-time world champions, Australia, are all set to lock horns against the Netherlands on October 25 at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in Delhi for their fifth game of the ODI World Cup 2023. Notably, star batsman Travis Head is likely to make his ODI World Cup debut on October 25, which means there will be a surprising exclusion of any batsman from their starting lineup.

Meanwhile, former Australia captain Mark Taylor feels Marnus Labuschagne has to make his way out of the squad to get Travis Head into their playing team against the Dutch on Wednesday. However, the 58-year-old cricketer also raises major concerns about keeping Labuschagne out, as he has really performed well in the 50-over format in the past few games.

“I think (selector) George Bailey’s already shown his hand that they’re going to play him (Head) at the top of the order which in a way is an aggressive move but the one concern Australia will have is that Labuschagne I think will make way. More than likely he’ll make way, but we’re leaving out someone like Labuschagne who’s an out-and-out batter which if you look at the games we won leading into this tournament, Labuschagne played well,” Mark Taylor said.

At the moment my fear for Australia is they want to go and go hard: Mark Taylor

The former opening batsman feels that it is hard for Pat Cummins and Co. to make their spot in the semi-finals as they have to play very aggressive games. Moreover, the cricket commentator feels that it can become easy if the top four batsmen hammer out scintillating knocks to post a challenging total against opponents in ODIs.

“At the moment my fear for Australia is they want to go and go hard which is the way of cricket these days but you don’t want to leave too much to do for your tail at the end of the game. I still think it’s an easier game to play when one of your top four makes a score of a hundred or better,” he added further.