Batting great Matthew Hayden feels Rishabh Pant will be a key player for India when they travel to Australia for a five-Test series later this year owing to his "muscle memory and thirst for victory" that made him such a sensation during the team's previous tour Down Under. (More Cricket News)
The eagerly-anticipated five-Test series starts on November�🌳� 22 at 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 told media on the sidelines of 'CEAT Cricket Rating Awards' 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 strat♏egy to take on the Australian conditions," the Australian added.
Pant, who has made a successful return to cricket after a life-thr🔯eatening accident in 2022, was an outstanding performer for India in the 2020-21 tou♛r, notching up brilliant knocks of 97 and 89 not out in the landmark trip.
India outgunned a full-strength Australia despite missing several frontline player♌s in one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the history 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.
Kohli had to return home after the Adelaide game due to personal reasons and five other players, including key pacers Jasprit Bumrah a꧂nd Mohammed Shami, were forced out due to injuries and fitness issues.
"The great thing from an Indian pღerspective is that when you look at the last victory, there was no V🅰irat 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 toꦐ g𒀰o 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.
Pink Tests Take Away Australia's Home Advantage
Hayden said scheduling a day-night Test tend𒁃s to take away the advan🔯tage enjoyed by Australian teams in the past. Even in the upcoming tour, the two teams will play a Pink Test in Adelaide.
"Once you get those overhead conditions under that twilight zone, they can be really difficult," he 𓃲said.
"I would go as far as to say that the home advantage in Australia has been taken away quite a lot, simply on the bas🍸is that if you get (on) the wrong side of a certain session, be that you are four for 130 at twilight, you can (soon) be eight for 150.
"There's no chance to actually really naturally domi✤nate a game," he added.
Hayden said Pat Cummins, who led Australia to the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup wins last year, has rallied his troops like no other Australian captain in t𒈔he pa൲st.
"He has a very special leadership style and ability. It's a very different style to the former capt꧙ains of the Australian cricket team that were (about) very much a carrot and stick type approach," he said.
"He's operating on a model that's bringing oꦺut the individuals and individual preparation in particular — something which our game struggles with being a team sport," he added.
Hayden said Australia under Cummins 🃏has been an extremely close-knit team which has earned respect from former players like him who were upset with the manner in w♏hich previous coach Justin Langer was removed.
"I (have) followed this team very closely over the last two years and they're an extremely close team. Even the former players, when we were upset with the removal of Justin Langer, they closed ranks and doubl🍸ed down on how it is that they wanted t🐓o go about their work," he said.
