Matt Hayden was ruled out of the third match at Perth due to a hamstring injury. India dominated Australia right through the test and won it quite convincingly on the 4th day of the test match.
Hayden will be back for the last test and his return is a huge boost for the Australian team. Hayden has a brilliant record against the India, scoring 1551 runs (5 hundreds) in 13 matches at an average of 64.62!
In the first 2 matches against India his scores read 124 and 47 at Melbourne, 13 and 123 at Sydney!
In the Perth test, Australia struggled to score a decent opening partnership. It has been one of their strengths over the past few years of domination to post huge opening partnerships in the first innings and put the opposition under pressure.
His opening partner Phil Jaques cant wait for Hayden’s return “Matt coming back into the side will make a difference to our team and give us a whole lot of confidence. He’s fantastic, a wealth of knowledge. My mindset didn’t change too much not having Matt there, but having him there will give the side what we need at the top of the order.”
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Hayden in an interview says when Australia are at their best, any side in the world cannot even come close to them. Well… I would say the same about India as well. And I say if all the top cricket playing nations play to their best…we might see a lot of drawn test matches. One team loses because the team hasnt played their best cricket. So whats all the fuss about. India was not at their best when Aus beat them in the first two test matches…but when india played at their best the Aus team looked as if they are not their best. So I say bring it on Aus.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Hayden and Ponting (if at all they have an iota of sportsmanship) should first ask the ICC to cancel the Sydney test and then both teams will be 1 - 1 and then start the challenge. Had it not been for the umpiring conspiracy India should have been leading 2 - 1 and Australia should have been under tremendous pressure to level the series.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Hayden will make a difference.. But India have in them to win the match.. I hope they win the match and level the series..
India have the talent to win against any team.. It doesnt matter if they are playing the Aussies on their home turf on their den or anywhere..
Chak De India
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:07 pm
If India win the toss and bat first and bat big.. They will win the match.. Australia batted first in Melbourne and then in Sydney (although umpires and the aussies cheated, else india would have won)
India batted first in Perth and won the match easily.
Anil go and win the toss!
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:18 am
I hope India wins the toss