New Delhi, Feb 21 (IANS) With the Australian batters failing miserably in the first two Tests of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, former opener Matthew Hayden has offered to help the tourists solve their batting woes in Indi.
Hayden, who was the Pakistan cricket team’s mentor for the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup, is in India as a commentator for official broadcaster Star Sports and has no formal involvement with the touring side.
However, on Tuesday he told the Sydney Morning Herald that he is 100 per cent ready to help the Australian batters who have produced scores of 177, 91 and 262 and 113 in four innings in India so far with Usman Khawa’a being the only Australian batter to score a half-century so far.
“One hundred per cent, at any time of the day or night, it is 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 told The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Any time I have been asked to do anything I’ve always said yes at any time of day,” he was quoted as saying in the report.
Hayden told the newspapers that he would “definitely not” charge Cricket Australia for his time but wanted the governing body to give current players access to the previous generation.
“You can’t alienate them,” Hayden said. “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.”
Hayden, part of Australia’s golden generation that included players like Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, and Glenn McGrath, boasts of a healthy Test record in India, averaging 51.35 in 11 Tests with two centuries and five fifties.
He was part of the Australian team led by Gilchrist that ended a three-decade-long wait to win the series in India in 2004.
–IANS
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