Travis Head set for mega payday after World Cup heroics

Australia’s World Cup hero Travis Head is set to land a lucrative new contract and Ricky Ponting is desperate to snap him up.

Australia’s Travis Head is set for a mega payday in the Indian Premier League (IPL) thanks to his heroics in the World Cup final.

Head struck 137 off 120 balls in Australia’s six-wicket win over India and took a spectacular diving catch to dismiss Rohit Sharma and shift the momentum of the final.

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The affable 29-year-old was named played of the match and has been on one of the great post-match benders, sparking disbelief that he has to front up for a relatively meaningless five-game bilateral T20 series in India.

Head has emerged as a genuine matchwinner in 2023, with key centuries in the World Test Championship final and the ODI World Cup decider putting him in the frame as a future Australian captain.

Head’s explosiveness at the top of the order, and the fact he destroyed India in India, has him poised to pick up a lucrative IPL contract next season.

Head is a three-format player and has showed T20 pedigree, bursting onto the scene on New Year’s Eve in 2015 with a matchwinning century for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League.

Travis Head is basking in the glory of Australia’s World Cup win. (Photo by Matthew Lewis-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)

He will be highly sought after in the IPL auction and could join Pat Cummins and Cameron Green as the third Aussie to score a three million dollar payday.

Head hasn’t played in the IPL since a stint with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2016, but that will soon be about to change.

Ricky Ponting coaches the Delhi Capitals and revealed he would have snapped up Head for this year’s IPL had the South Australian not had his wedding mid-season.

“Travis has done everything right to make sure he gets a deal this year,” Ponting told 7NEWS.

“He would have had a deal last year if it wasn’t for his wedding. His wedding got in the middle of it.

Travis Head is set for a huge payday. Picture: instagram @travishead34

Ponting says Head will be snapped up in the IPL. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to pick him up at Delhi.

“I rang him and told him I was going for him in the auction, and he said, ‘just to let you know, I’m getting married two weeks into the IPL.’

“He would have missed three weeks at start of tournament, which our owners weren’t willing to take that gamble on.”

Cummins and Mitchell Starc are also set to return to the IPL next year.

Cummins chose not to play in the competition this year while Starc has focused on preparing his body for the rigours of Test cricket despite being one of Australia's best ever white ball bowlers.

“They go to NZ after the summer, then IPL, then T20 World Cup after that … there’ll be a few questions asked of the high performances guys at Cricket Australia as to what the expectations might and might not be for fast bowlers in the IPL auction,” Ponting said.