Australian batters are looking far from being comfortable against the Indian spinners in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
India’s experienced spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and R Ashwin have taken 31 of Australia’s 40 wickets as the visitors’ four innings have folded for 177, 91, 263 and 113 across the two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi.
Amid the struggles, legendary opener Matthew Hayden has said that he is ready to help Australia solve their batting woes in the ongoing Test series if asked.
"One hundred per cent, at any time of the day or night, it is a given that myself -- and I'm sure I speak for anyone else that I represent that would have that kind of influence -- would 100 per cent be in," Hayden was quoted as saying by 'Sydney Morning Herald'.
"Any time I have been asked to do anything I've always said yes at any time of day," he added.
Hayden said he would "definitely not" charge Cricket Australia for his time with the national team but asked the governing body to respect the former players.
"You can't alienate them (former players). If you want the creme de la creme, the very least you can do is respect them. There should be a system if you're in the CA role, how do we get the intellectual property in our players? That's the key," he said.
The 51-year-old cited the example of India batter Shreyas Iyer's close relationship with Ricky Ponting during their time together at IPL franchise Delhi Capitals and Matthew Mott's role in England's T20 World Cup triumph to highlight how other countries are using the best of Australia's coaching talent.
Hayden, who has 8625 Test runs to his name from 103 matches, also sympathized with Australia coach Andrew McDonald as teams no longer have the time for extensive preparation for tours.
“It's not possible because a week before we came over here everyone was screaming bloody murder about their superstars not playing the Big Bash League – and yet they've got a Test match nine days later,” Hayden said.
“This is where I really don't envy the role of Andrew McDonald. He has to work out what is the priority in terms of his playing group of which he has zero per cent control over a two-month period because of IPL.
“Part of that tenure would be, 'what do we want to win fellas?' Because if it's India we know what it takes to win there."
Having suffered defeats in Nagpur and Delhi, Australia have already conceded an unbeatable 2-0 lead to India in the four-match series.
Indore and Ahmedabad are scheduled to host the third and fourth Tests from March 1 and March 9, respectively.
(With PTI Inputs)
