Three stars: Hayden, Harbhajan and Gavaskar at the launch event to promote Australia-India Summer of Cricket.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Discussing the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Australia great Matthew Hayden said in Chennai that the Australian team is in a transition period and vulnerable at the top, with the need for a new opening batter to replace David Warner.
“Well, it’s a time in Australian cricket where it’s a transition period. And so, we’re vulnerable at the top. I was very forthright in saying this; Steve Smith should never have been the opening batter for Australia. And I still believe that’s the case.
“So, we are on the lookout for, I believe, another opening batter to replace the great David Warner, who’s had an exceptional career. He really, I feel, built on the legacy that JL (Justin Langer) and I created in our period. He went better. Whereas our strike rate was 65 to 70, Dave Warner was 80 and sometimes more,” he said during the panel discussion on India-Australia cricket with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar and former India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh at the launch of the Australia-India Summer of Cricket, organised by the Australian Consulate in partnership with Cricket Australia (CA) and the Centre for Australia-India Relations.
“It’s really a battle of the top order. And Australian cricket has put itself in a position where it’s kind of got no further games to really anticipate what it’s going to look like ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy,” he added.
India is set to play five Tests at the Perth Stadium, Adelaide Oval, Gabba, Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), and Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) from Nov. 22 to Jan. 7.
Asked for his wish list for the series, Gavaskar said: “My wish list is, obviously, India should continue to win in Australia — twice they’ve won now, and so for the third time as well.
“Hope it’s a good, close series with the matches going into the fifth day. A lot of Test matches finish in three-and-a-half, four days. A five-day Test would be fantastic for everybody concerned, where Australia and India keep on dominating for four days alternately, and maybe on the fifth day the team that has really got that greater desire goes out and wins. And all five Test matches should have a result.
“On an individual level, maybe for Virat Kohli, that he becomes the third overseas player who’s scored a Test century in all the Australian venues. I think he doesn’t have one at the Gabba. So if he gets a century at the Gabba, that means he joins me and Alastair Cook.”
