The much-awaited ODI series between India and Australia finally got underway with the first game in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday (January 14).

Ahead of the match, former Australia batsman Matthew Hayden spoke about the well-documented rivalry between the two passionate cricketing nations.

Read Also: Gambhir says Kohli "far, far better" than Smith in white-ball cricket 

For Hayden, the intensity in Indian cricket brings out the best from the touring Australian sides and thus they love coming to the country. He also explained the transformation in Indian cricket over the years.

“We’ve probably seen through cricket the real India be born. I mean economically, its hopes and dreams have ridden the passion and emotions of the Sachin Tendulkars who have made cricket a globally recognised household name. And under Sourav Ganguly and now under his leadership in the BCCI as well, it’s just enabled India to just rise and rise and rise,” Hayden told the host broadcaster Star Sports.

“You have got someone like Virat Kohli at the actual helm and he does not let any part of that go, it’s constant upward direction. Australia love this challenge,” he further added.

Ex-Australian opener Michael Slater, who is covering this series as a commentator, also echoed Hayden’s words and went on to add that Kohli’s aggressive captaincy has managed to extract the best out of this Indian team.

“I love Virat, he is favourite cricketer in the world. He leads not just this team, but he leads India. His eyes are always expressive and what he gets from his teammates is just high standards. This lifts the side and makes it extremely difficult for touring sides coming here,” Slater said.

India will play three ODIs against Australia in this series. Rajkot and Bengaluru will host the second and third game on January 17 and January 19 respectively.