Former Test batsman Mike Hussey believes Travis Hard should feel the most hard done by after not being selected in the 16-man touring squad for the upcoming Test series in India next month.
Head has averaged 60 with the bat in the Sheffield Shield so far this season and is a handy spin-bowler when given the ball, but the 29-year-old was overlooked in favour of Glenn Maxwell.
The Victorian himself averages just 25.80 in his three Shield matches so far this season, and even missed the first round of Shield fixtures after simply being left out of the squad.
There's also a difference between the pair that doesn't have to do with statistics, and Mr. Cricket believes that could have been the telling blow for Head when it came to selection time.
"I think the other thing that might have helped (Maxwell) is being a right-hander, as opposed to Travis Head, who I thought was right in contention as well," Hussey told cricket.com.au.
"Ashwin is going to be such a key player for India and he's got a great record against left-handers. So maybe that was something the selectors were thinking about as well.
"(Head has) done well at one-day international level for Australia so I thought it'd be a nice, seamless progression for him to come into the Test team. I feel like he's pretty unlucky.
"(Maxwell) hasn't really set the world on fire from Victoria this season.
"Ideally, you don't want to be picking on potential. You want to be picking on performances on the board.
"But he's such a great package and offers the team a lot of balance. So when he's playing at his best and contributing, he's a match-winner with the bat, he can help out with the ball and he's obviously a gun in the field.
"He hasn't quite got the runs on the board that many people think he needed."
As Hussey pointed out, Ravichandran Ashwin has an amazing record against left-handed batsman, as 18 of his 28 wickets in the recent series against England came against left-handers, while 18 of his 29 against Australia four years ago also came against lefties.
Despite Ashwin's dominance, Hussey believes you need to pick the best players no matter what their batting stance is.
"It's a concern, but we've got to pick our best players," Hussey said.
"And they've got to adapt and play Ashwin as well as they can, and Yadav as well.
"It's going to be tough, there's no question about that, but we can't be picking inferior players just because they're right-handed.
"They've got to go with their best players and if they're left-handed, go for it. If they're right-handed, that's great as well."
