IND v ENG 2021: “India has all markings of a great side,” says Matthew Hayden; lauds their ability to win in any conditions

Hayden also talked about the best sweep shot player in the world.

Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden said that the current Indian team has all the markings of being a great side, lauding their ability to win in any condition and surface.

India had recently defeated Australia 2-1 Down Under in a four-Test series. Virat Kohli's men then took an unassailable 2-1 lead over England following the 10-wicket win in the third Test at Ahmedabad on Thursday.

“India have shown that they are a modern team who can not only fight it out but win against the odds in all conditions. This is a mark of all the great teams in history. The ability to win both at home and away," Hayden told PTI.

Talking the pitches in both Chennai and Ahmedabad Tests coming in for sharp criticism due to the assistance they offered to spinners, Hayden said that conditions should promote an even game.

"Provided the wickets are not unfairly groomed, reducing the game to only one type of cricket, I don't have a problem with it at all. Conditions should promote an even game. Teams, both home and away, tour with several options at their disposal should condition suit different specialists. That's the modern game, different formats, different conditions, and huge resources to account for the same,” Hayden said.

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Matthew Hayden played 103 Tests for Australia from 1994-2008 and made 8625 runs with the best score of 380. He had some sound advice for batsmen, especially England ones who struggled to counter R Ashwin and Akshar Patel.

"Typically, the Ahmedabad wicket is not a big turning one. I would only play the sweep shot on slow turners where it is impossible to generate enough power to play shots down the ground. English batsmen should be conscious and play spin according to the conditions. Cross-bat shots are dangerous if the ball is not turning, bringing in several modes of dismissal at the one time, LBW, bowled in particular," added Hayden

Hayden also opined why Australia lost the Test series in their own backyard to India.

Matthew Hayden said, “England after their fantastic win in the first Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai they failed to capitalize in the 2nd Test match for exactly the same reason Australia lost momentum against the tourists in Oz. Failure to post a huge first innings total. Conversely, Australia in Australia was unable to post match winning totals in the first innings of any Test, unable to convert starts into big totals.”

Matthew Hayden picked South African batting genius AB de Villiers as the best exponent of the sweep shot.

"Very hard to go past Mr 360 AB de Villiers. Brutal player of all the sweep shot elements, reverse, slog, traditional. His power and versatility of playing to all parts of the ground with this shot wins him the title," said Hayden.

(PTI inputs)