Big shoulders and stylish stroke play are their common features. One is the opening bat; the other a strong middle order player, can relish any bowling attack on their respective days. Both playing for different teams, have been in and out of the team throughout their career.The reasons are plenty; Mathew Hayden who made his debut long ago in 1994 was overshadowed by the presence of players like Mark Waugh, Mark Taylor and Michel Slater through most of his career. So was the case of our very own VVS Laxman who kick started his career in 1996 played under the shades of Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Their agility on the field was always under the scanner and for the same they were in the side lines of the one-day team for most part of their career.
Everyone have their day of delight, a turning point rather sooner or later in their career. And for these two style icons, the chance to hog the limelight came in 2001 when Australia toured India under the captaincy of Steve Waugh.
Since the day Hayden landed in India, he slog-swept his way to glory by piling 549 runs in that series, then an Australian record for a three match series.
Landing in India, Australians where on a roll, on their winning streak of 15 tests and managed to win their sixteenth in Mumbai trashing India by 10 wickets. It didn’t take any time for ‘Haydos’ to stamp his mark as he steered the Australian first innings with a dominant century. Then he powered his way to a double hundred in Chennai in the final test with some fearless batting where the rest of his teammates struggled against Harbajhan Singh.
Matthew Hayden is 36, yet his eyes have the sharpness of an eagle, highly successful in dispatching the ball to all corners of the ground. It’s raining runs since his latest comeback to the one day team. He scored a whirlwind 181 against Kiwis, an Australian record for the highest individual score in ODIs just before the World Cup. That enabled him to book his tickets for the Caribbean tour. He scored three centuries ending the tournament as the highest run getter with 659 runs. He along with Adam Gilchrist made sure that their team drives in top gear every time they go out to bat. He is already the top run scorer ODIs for the calendar year 2007, way ahead of the rest in the list.
He also managed to top score in the recently concluded Twenty20 World Cup which was supposed to be a young men’s game.
All this came from a man who was dropped from both test and ODI teams in the year 2005 and got to play just two ODI since then till 2007. So what is Matthew Hayden’s Strength? Get a closer look again, you will find out that ‘strength’ is his strength. He is very strong in character, both mentally and physically.
Mental strength is VVS Laxman’s forte. He is no different from Hayden, used to many comebacks and managed to make it big the same time along with Hayden in the same series in 2001. His knock in that second innings of the Kolkata test match turned it all, once for ever. His majestic knock of 281 not just helped India to win that test and level the series but they went on to win the series by winning in Chennai as well. Doing so, he beleaguered Steve Waugh’s thought of being invincible Australians stopping the Aussie juggernaut of 16 consecutive test wins.
Hayden, part of two World Cup winning teams, Laxman was overlooked by the selectors should consider himself unlucky.
At his sublime best, watching Laxman play is something that every connoisseur of the game would like to. Wristy and willoy he can grace the cricket field with his wide range of strokes. He belongs to those rare breed of players who are good at hitting the same delivery on either side of the field. And when he does that even the opposition forgets that they are at the receiving end. His presence on the crease is a luxury and at time his stroke play even bettered Tendulkar’s.
Presently a regular in India’s test team when they play with four bowlers finds himself out when they opt for five bowlers. Whatever is the composition of the team that will not be the case when India takes on Australia down under in a couple of months.
His nickname is ‘Very Very Special’ and he stores his special for the Australians. With the tour of down under on the cards it will be no surprise if he makes yet another strong comeback. Watch out!
1 comment:
Well that was good one bhogle. Mighty
Haydos would have gone on to become a household name alongside the likes of men such as Warne,McGrath and Steve Waugh. It just happens to be so
unfortunate that Haydos had to be ply his trade at the a time when Mark Waugh was making batting look as easy as a stroll in the park. And as far as Mr.Very Very Special is concerned, purely in terms of talent, he is probably next only to a certain Mr.Sachin Tendulkar in the Indian setup. Why his place was always under the scanner?? Well this question can be answered only by the all those omniscient Indian selectors we have had over the past 15 yrs.
And as for the tour down under next year, lets all hope and pray that the big boys of Indian batting have plans for a fitting finale on the bouncy wickets of the MCG and the WACA.
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