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Matthew Hayden
Australian greats Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting have slammed India's decision to drop premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin for the World Test Championship final against Australia. Ashwin, who is the No 1 bowler in Test cricket and India's leading wicket-taker in the 2021-23 WTC cycle, was dropped as the Rohit Sharma-led side bolstered the pace ammunition by playing four seamers. "I feel that Ravichandran Ashwin is such a key factor, the leading wicket taker in the Tests cycle is not there. There are a few factors worth pondering on in Team India's perspective," Hayden told ICC after the day one's proceedings. In the absence of Ashwin, left-armer Ravindra Jadeja is the sole spinner in the playing XI and he went wicketless as India struggled to break the 251-run partnership between Travis Head (146 batting) and Steve Smith (95 batting). With Head's blistering century, his first in England, combined with Smith's resolute show Australia took the day one honours with 327/3 on the
With a penchant for making big scores, the supremely gifted Shubman Gill is set to dominate world cricket for the next decade, feels legendary Australian opener Matthew Hayden. The 23-year-old Gill, who has already scored two hundreds in Tests, four in ODIs and one in T20 Internationals, once again showed his class en route to a sublime 67 off 49 balls in Gujarat Titans' six-wicket win over Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League here on Thursday. Hayden is one of the many to have been impressed by Gill's ability to control the proceedings. Speaking to Star Sports, Hayden said, "Gujarat Titans needed someone to take responsibility and bat deep in this run chase against a quality Punjab Kings bowling attack, and Shubman Gill did just that. "Some of the shots that he played were pleasing to the eyes. He's such a class player and he's going to dominate world cricket for the next decade or so." From GT's point of view, it was extremely important that Gill stayed on till the end, ...