New Delhi: The highly anticipated pink-ball day-night Test between India and Australia has already sparked engaging conversations among cricketing legends. With the #ToughestRivalry unfolding on the grand stage, former cricketers Matthew Hayden and Sunil Gavaskar shared their expert insights exclusively with Star Sports. They delved into key moments, such as Rohit Sharma’s short-lived innings under the challenging pink-ball conditions, and Travis Head’s fearless approach that has proven to be a game-changer against India. Don’t miss the live action starting tomorrow at 9:30 AM on the Star Sports Network.
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar spoke on Travis Head’s innings and his mentality. He said “Well, because you see, I think it’s a difference in attitude. Where you look at every ball as a scoring opportunity, which is what he does. Which is what Rishabh Pant also does. He looks at every ball as a scoring opportunity. Your attitude, your bat speed, everything has got to be different. Where there are others who are looking at a delivery and maybe preserving their wicket. Which means their bat speed is going to be different, their attitude towards the ball is going to be different. And Travis Head, why is he so popular? Why is he so dangerous? It’s because he looks at everything as a scoring opportunity. And he’s successful more often than not. Particularly against India.”
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden spoke on the Rohit Sharma dismissal, and how challenging conditions are in Pink Ball cricket. He said “One remark quickly on Rohit Sharma. He plays cricket like he’s sitting on a leather lounge chair and reclining with a cup of coffee in his hands. You’ve got to admire the different styles that arrive at Test cricket. Virat Kohli, very hard at the ball, a busy player, really wants to get amongst it. Rohit Sharma’s too easy. He’s more in the category of the Mark Waugh’s, the Shubman Gills. They make cricket look easy. It’s very easy for us that makes it as well to make the comments around, well, that was a soft way to get out. But it’s the one thing that we actually admire the most about someone like Rohit Sharma who seemingly does have a lot of time to play. Folks, don’t be too disappointed. He got an absolute jaffer of a delivery. In fact, he got a great sequence of deliveries in the short time that he was out there under these lights. And I’ve watched pink ball Test matches as we all have closely for a number of years here. And when it comes to the night game with the new pink ball, it is horrendous. It’s so technically difficult. It exposes everyone and anyone.”
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden spoke on the temperament of Travis Head and his domination over India. He said “I think he made a promise to himself very early doors in his test match cricket. And some people aren’t brave enough until they reach maybe 30 or even 40 test matches for their country. But he promised himself very early doors that he was going to play the way Travis Head wants to play. And I admire that courage. Because it’s not always easy. Especially when you think back to the way that he’s dominated India. When you think back to that world test championship, he would have got great confidence out of that. Because it was under some circumstances that he reached the crease at the Oval. And suddenly the game just seemed to open up. And it’s amazing how quickly sides that have got this momentum going forward end up sort of reeling back. And that’s his resolve and his commitment to himself. He’s promised to himself that I’m going to do it my way.”
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden gave his analysis of how the second test of the BGT series has played out. He said“It’s Murphy’s Law. It’s a sequence of events that has, unfortunately, swung the momentum in favour of Australia. It was a good decision to bat. It had to be there. When you look at this game statistically, those that bat first and are brave enough to take on slightly greenish conditions, they get the benefit of the third innings where it becomes really tough to bat. And so diminishing returns with the bat. Must bat first. But the way that the game turned out yesterday, both sides being dismissed in a similar fashion to what was in Perth, meant that Australia was able to hang on for those final few overs last evening. They got this great day to day. It was a totally different day. More wind. Blue skies. Better track. And then they actually went through the gears so quickly that they enabled, they almost may as well declared in many ways, because it meant India then were under pressure.”
