Travis Head released from T20I squad for India series to play Sheffield Shield ahead of Ashes

Australia have released their star opening batter, Travis Head, from the squad midway through the ongoing T20I series against India for him to play in the Sheffield Shield to prepare for the upcoming Ashes 2025/26.

Head is among the latest players from Australia's five-match T20I squad to play in the Shield, a dress rehearsal for the Ashes that gets underway from November 21 onwards. Before him, pacer Josh Hazlewood had also left the Australian squad after the second T20I to feature for New South Wales. 

Head will be representing his domestic side, South Australia and will be available for selection for their clash against Tasmania in Hobart next week. This will be Head's maiden outing in the red-ball format since the Test series against the West Indies earlier in July. 

The left-handed opening batter has not been at his best in the white-ball format, aggregating a total of 143 runs in the last eight innings across the two formats with a best effort of 31. His last fifty-plus knock in the white-ball format came against South Africa in August 2025, when he had hit a 142 in the third ODI of the series in Mackay. 

Apart from Head, a few more Aussie internationals will be playing in the domestic tournament to prepare for the Ashes. Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Scott Boland, Cameron Green, and Sean Abbott would also turn up for their domestic sides. 

Green has played in two of the three matches this season and is now likely to play as a full-time all-rounder. He had not bowled in his previous match when he was returning from a side soreness that had seen him miss the ODI series against India.

Coming to India, the Men in Blue have set their eyes on the red-ball format too, as they released star spinner Kuldeep Yadav ahead of the fourth T20I on November 6 to feature in the multi-day games between India A and South Africa A to prepare for the Test series against South Africa.

Australia Squad: Mitchell Marsh(c), Josh Inglis(w), Tim David, Mitchell Owen, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Mahli Beardman, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Matthew Short, Josh Philippe, Ben Dwarshuis