Matthew Hayden feels that in Australia later this year, Yashasvi Jaiswal will be tested by three world-class fast bowlers.
Jaiswal stormed into Test cricket with a hundred on debut at Roseau in July 2023, but he really made a mark during the 2023/24 series against England at home. There, he amassed 712 runs from five Tests at 79.91, converting both hundreds into double tons. After nine Tests, his career stands at 1,028 runs at an astonishing average of 70.07.
After five more Test matches at home – two against Bangladesh, three against New Zealand – Jaiswal will travel to Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the sternest test of his brief career.
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“I think he's a package,” former Australian opener Matthew Hayden told the media at the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards. “His stroke-play is superb; his ability, in particular, to hit on the up through the covers is phenomenal; [but] that'll also have its vulnerabilities.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how he adjusts on bouncy tracks. We did notice a few times in the IPL that he’s a very hard hitter of the ball – [with the] pull shots in particular.
“But that'll be challenged by three world-class speedsters [Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc], assuming they’re all fit, and on much bigger grounds as well – grounds where it has to almost be the perfect contact for that ball to sail over for six. You can get caught easily, three-quarters of the way in the fence. So they have little adjustments that world-class players like Jaiswal will make for sure.”
Hayden: It's hard to tell who's got the edge for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
However, Hayden did not name a favourite for the series: “You look at the line-ups, and it’s hard to really tell who's got the edge. I sense that it’s going to be runs that are going to be the point of difference, so the best need to stand up in this series. Runs are going to be at a premium.
“I also feel like the structure of the tournament being from the west to the east is a bit of the unique way that the Australian landscape of cricket is going to be played out. It’s usually the other way around. It’s going to be a great summer.” The Tests will be played at, in that order, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.
Australia have lost the last four Test series against India, including their first two home series defeats against them. Hayden emphasised how important the upcoming series was for Australia: “We haven’t had it in our hands for two series in Australia, which is kind of the coveted grounds, not dissimilar to the Steve Waugh era here [India] in 2001, where this was the hallowed turf, this was the place where Australia really wanted to come and win, and his great era didn’t do it.”
Waugh had called India “the final frontier” for the Australian Test side. On the 2000/01 tour, they won the first Test and made India follow-on in the second, but the hosts bounced back to claim the series 2-1. Australia did win a series in India, in 2004/05, but that remains their only Test series win in the nation since 1969/70.
“This is why I think it’s such a special series,” added Hayden. “There’s always this fantastic opportunity for the No.1 and No.2 side on the World Test Championship table to go head-to-head, especially abroad, in each other’s camps, and see who really has those kind of final rights to claim not only the possibility of playing the Test Championship, but also who’s the very best of the best, which you judge on how you tour, not so much how you play at home.”
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