Matthew Hayden loves thinking differently. While the rest are pinning hopes on Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal, the former Australia opener thinks Rishabh Pant will be the key player when they travel to Australia for a five-Test series later this year.
Pant’s “muscle memory and thirst for victory” that made him such a sensation during the team’s previous tour Down Under sets his apart, believes Hayden.
The eagerly-anticipated five-Test series starts on November 22 in 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 said on the sidelines of an awards function 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,” he 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.
India outgunned a full-strength Australia despite missing several frontline players in one of the most dramatic turnarounds in 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.
“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.
Hayden lauded Pat Cummins’ captaincy. “He has a very special leadership style and ability.”
