Matthew Hayden has expressed concerns regarding the Australian cricket team’s prospects in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The retired left-handed opener highlighted the significant void left by David Warner’s departure from the international arena. Warner, who made substantial contributions across 112 Test matches, accumulating 8786 runs at an impressive average close to 45, recently called time on his international career.
Reflecting on Warner’s exit, Hayden said on Wednesday, “For the first time, it doesn’t feel as secure. David Warner gave a great service to Australian cricket. He was incredibly competitive and wonderfully dynamic. He really embodied the legacy that I helped create during the 2000s. His strike rates, often exceeding 80 (70.19), provided immense momentum to an otherwise conservative top order. So I think he’s an enormous loss in terms of how do you replace such a player.”
Warner’s statistics against India encompass 21 Test matches with a tally of 1218 runs at an average of 31.23, including four centuries, all of them scored on home soil where he amassed 760 runs in 10 Tests.
Hayden, who was in Mumbai attending the Ceat Cricket Rating Awards, argued against the notion of moving Steve Smith to the opening role. He cited the rationale provided by chief selector George Bailey, who maintained this strategy was about selecting the best top six batsmen.
“You can’t argue with that aspect of it. Steve Smith averages an incredible 65 (actually 56.97) and has accumulated 30 (now 32) Test match hundreds. However, the role of an opening batsman compared to a middle-order batsman is vastly different, a lesson learned quickly during the New Zealand tour earlier this year when Smith’s promotion to opener didn’t fare well. I voiced my concerns at the time, declaring I wasn’t a fan of the shift. It’s rather irrational to move the best batsman in the world to a completely different position.
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Aside from Warner’s departure, Hayden emphasized Pat Cummins’ potential rise to legendary status as an Australian captain. “He’s a great of our game,” Hayden said about Cummins, who has already led Australia to a World Cup and a World Test Championship (WTC) victory. “Cummins possesses a unique leadership style that’s quite distinct from his predecessors who often employed a carrot-and-stick approach. His strategy focuses on enhancing individual preparation, a critical factor often challenging in a team sport like cricket. Ultimately, it’s about how you optimize individual performance to benefit the team.”
Hayden noted that Cummins’ leadership approach is somewhat unorthodox. “I’ve closely monitored this team over the past two years. They are incredibly tight-knit, and Pat is an exceptional leader. He will certainly be remembered as one of the great captains.”
In addition to these reflections, Hayden proposed that lengthening the series against India to five Tests would be more thrilling than the traditional three or four-match engagements. “It’s going to be an unbelievable series made even more special by extending it to five Test matches. In a three-Test series, it feels like you’re left hanging; in four Tests, there’s no clear resolve. But with five, there’s a genuine opportunity to win, lose, and then mount a comeback. I love it. It’s destined to be a fantastic series.”
India and Australia have not contested a five-Test series since 1991/92. However, this highly anticipated series will begin on November 22 in Perth. This will be followed by Tests in Adelaide starting December 6, Brisbane on December 14, Melbourne from December 26, and culminates in Sydney on January 3. India has triumphed in the past two series on Australian soil, notably in 2018/19 and again in 2020/21. Consequently, Australia has not held the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for more than a decade, since their home victory in the 2014/15 series.