Batting great Matthew Hayden feels Rishabh Pant will a key player for India when they travel to Australia for a five-Test series later this year owing to his “muscle memory and thirst for victory” that made him such a sensation during the team’s previous tour Down Under. The eagerly-anticipated five-Test series starts on November 22 at Perth.
“Guys like Rishabh Pant have got a muscle memory and the thirst for victory. He was such a key player last time he played there and the Australian public loved him as well, because of the nature of the way he played his game,” Hayden told media on the sidelines of ‘CEAT Cricket Rating Awards’ here on Wednesday.
“It was exciting. It was innovative. It was just fresh and good. Then you have got your old stewards, like Virat Kohli, (he) will want to make an impression again. From a batting point of view, I’m excited to see how India have that strategy to take on the Australian conditions,” the Australian added.
Pant, who has made a successful return to cricket after a life-threatening accident in 2022, was an outstanding performer for India in the 2020-21 tour, notching up brilliant knocks of 97 and 89 not out in the landmark trip.
India outgunned a full-strength Australia despite missing several frontline players in one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the history Test cricket.
The visitors bounced back from the ignominy of 36 all out in the opening Adelaide Test to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 for a second consecutive time.
Kohli had to return home after the Adelaide game due to personal reasons and five other players, including key pacers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, were forced out due to injuries and fitness issues.
“The great thing from an Indian perspective is that when you look at the last victory, there was no Virat Kohli. There was a very much a second team bowling line-up that won at the Gabba,” Hayden said.
“That’s the kind of confidence that you can expect this Indian unit to go to our shores (with) and go, ‘guys, we’ve done this before, and we’ve done it in a way that’s second to none, even without our key players’,” he said.
Pink Tests take away Australia’s home advantage
Hayden said scheduling a day-night Test tends to take away the advantage enjoyed by Australian teams in the past. Even in the upcoming tour, the two teams will play a Pink Test in Adelaide.
“Once you get those overhead conditions under that twilight zone, they can be really difficult,” he said.
“I would go as far as to say that the home advantage in Australia has been taken away quite a lot, simply on the basis that if you get (on) the wrong side of a certain session, be that you are four for 130 at twilight, you can (soon) be eight for 150.
“There’s no chance to actually really naturally dominate a game,” he added.
Hayden said Pat Cummins, who led Australia to the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup wins last year, has rallied his troops like no other Australian captain in the past.
“He has a very special leadership style and ability. It’s a very different style to the former captains of the Australian cricket team that were (about) very much a carrot and stick type approach,” he said.
“He’s operating on a model that’s bringing out the individuals and individual preparation in particular — something which our game struggles with being a team sport,” he added.
Hayden said Australia under Cummins has been an extremely close-knit team which has earned respect from former players like him who were upset with the manner in which previous coach Justin Langer was removed.
“I (have) followed this team very closely over the last two years and they’re an extremely close team. Even the former players, when we were upset with the removal of Justin Langer, they closed ranks and doubled down on how it is that they wanted to go about their work,” he said.
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