Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden suggested to England that they have to be a guru and have a mindset of stillness to be able to survive mentally in India, as the tourists’ famous ‘Bazball’ approach badly failed against the hosts.
England managed to pull off a 28-run win in the opening Test of the ongoing five-match Test series in Hyderabad, but then their aggressive style of play backfired, as Ben Stokes and his team suffered a 106-run defeat in the second Test in Vizag, followed by a record 434-run defeat in the third Test in Rajkot.
After seeing the results in the past two matches, Matthew Hayden backed Team India to win the Test series and felt it would be really tough for England to make a comeback from Rajkot Test loss. Notably, the fourth Test will begin on February 23 in Ranchi.
Matthew Hayden told Star Sports: “I think it's India all the way (the result of the series). I was looking at the result this morning and thought that India, as a touring side, is a challenge for this reason. It's a battle of energy and conservation of that resource, which is very limited.”
The Aussie great continued, “The game, the spectators, and the country just keeps coming at you. There's this great energy in India, especially in winning against England, and you can put Australia on that list as well especially now. You have to be a guru and have to have a mindset of stillness just to be able to survive mentally there.”
Hayden signed off by saying, “You have already seen England in this series get in front of games, but not be able to sustain it. And it is because of the relentless nature of having to turn up every moment, every ball, every session.”
(With PTI Inputs)
