Matthew Hayden rates Marcus Stoinis above Hardik Pandya: Former Australian batsman was wax lyrical about the Australian all-rounder.
With Australia’s tour of India slated to begin later this week, all eyeballs are on the visitors regarding whether they will be able to take a revenge of their series loss against India last month.
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Former Australia opening batsman Matthew Hayden is currently in India as a part of Star Sports commentary team for the two T20Is and five ODIs. In a recent press release, he was quoted as rating Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis over his Indian counterpart in Hardik Pandya.
“Stoinis is a better player”
Hayden believed that Stoinis was unlucky to not be playing Test cricket but appreciated his ‘wider approach’ towards the game which aids his team in winning matches at the highest level.
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“Marcus Stoinis is developing into a world-class all-rounder. He is unlucky not to be playing a little bit more Test cricket. He has quality in his play, although Hardik is also a fine player.
“Stoinis has adopted a wider approach to his game which is winning matches for his country. Hardik Pandya also has the same responsibility, but I think right now Stoinis is a better player,” Hayden said.
While Pandya has played 45 ODIs since his debut against Australia in 2016, Stoinis has played 24 in his four-year career. Talking of batting, Pandya’s strike rate is better than Stoinis’. However, the 29-year old Australian has a better average. In the bowling department, both of them have almost the same numbers.
“Cummins will babysit Dhawan”
Hayden also reflected upon the rivalry between India opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan and Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins. The 47-year old southpaw sounded confident when he mentioned that Cummins will dominate Dhawan in the imminent series. “I think Patty will be the baby-sitter,” Hayden added.
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The series will also put forward a riveting competition between India all-rounder Yuzvendra Chahal and Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell. With Chahal dismissing Maxwell several times in the recent past, one expects the Australian cricketer to put up a better show this time round.
While Hayden favoured his countrymen in the above two situations, he predicted Chahal to continue disturbing Maxwell in the middle-overs. “In the perspective of ODIs and Test matches, Maxwell has achieved one excellent 100. But Chahal is developing into a world-class spinner and possesses plenty of variation.
“Maxwell often comes in through the middle stages where he will really need to pump up the pace and Chahal has got variation, so I will get Chahal to babysit,” Hayden concluded.
