Abu Dhabi: Former Australia batsman Matthew Hayden discussed his love of India, passion for cooking and firm friendship with Manchester United legends the Neville brothers, among other subjects, in an exclusive interview with Gulf News.
Can you explain your love of India, where you played in the Indian Premier League with Chennai Super Kings between 2008 and 2010?
India was something which does tend to grow on you – it’s very unfamiliar as an Australian. Over time you learn to appreciate the nuances of the language, the culture, the food and the music. It’s very challenging coming from a Western world. It does grow on you and it is something I learned to appreciate and enjoy. The sense of competitive spirit has developed, too. They really started to, in the middle stages of my career, have a different attitude towards cricket and a very competitive one. They started to use the advantage of their numbers in terms of size and love of the game to develop great cricketing youngsters that I was privileged to take on. I always enjoy going back there and want to many more times in the future.
What are your thoughts on the Indian Premier League?
I think that there is very much a place for franchise-driven cricket. I am really disappointed that a competition like the Champions League T20 doesn’t become a priority in the landscape of cricket. I believe it’s a much better product – a 100 per cent better product – than the pseudo World Cup which is the Champions Trophy, which I think has got no place in the game of cricket. Cricket has to be prepared to look at its programming heavily. Some competitions don’t mean as much as others. I think that’s sad. Once you put it in a programme, then it becomes a product. People vote with their feet and sadly they are not voting with their feet for every Test series or for every one-day series.
Former Australia skipper Steve Waugh said in 2002 that you were as good a batsman as Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar. What did you think about that?
Steve Waugh’s comments are largely irrelevant for me. Growing up on fast, bouncy pitches, I was very proud in my career to adapt to conditions which didn’t suit me. And I’m sure Sachin was the same as well, growing up on dust bowls in Mumbai and then having to play in venues like Lord’s and Australia, where he was able to confront his weaknesses. The great players in the world always play well in different conditions and find a way to adapt.
You played cricket with former Manchester United stars Gary and Phil Neville in Lancashire in the early 1990s. What memories do you have of that time?
I became great friends with their dad and they were both quite young at that stage, 16 and below. Neville Neville was chairman of Bury Football Club at the time. I used to go down at weekends and have feeds with the family. The big highlight was when pay-per-view TV had just hit the market and the Nevilles were among the first people in Bury to have it. We’d have a chance to have a feed together and watch highlights from football games. They were great young fellas and we’re still in touch to this day. I think Gary was a more competitive individual than Phil was at that particular time, but Phil was a more talented cricket player. The two were handy in the side.
Tell me about your passion for cooking and what’s your speciality?
Cooking is something I am really passionate about I don’t think I necessarily have a speciality, but I love seafood cuisine. I love the way food tends to dominate conversations because it’s all about the environment. It’s all about the fresh produce you can get at your fingertips, whether that’s fresh legumes in India. or beautiful Tasmanian pure salmon down in southern Australia. It’s about the people you are around at the time, the locations in which the food and food destinations take you and ultimately the experience of either catching or harvesting and understanding where your food comes from is what I really enjoy about it. My wife says I cook a mean curry, but I had to learn something from the 10 or 15 years of travelling to India.
What was your most memorable achievement or innings?
Scoring 101 against South Africa in the 2007 World Cup in West Indies, which at the time was the fastest ton in World Cup history.
What’s the most valuable life lesson you have learned?
To never give up and maintain your belief and focus in what your vision is and surround yourself with really good people.
Who was/were your toughest opponent(s)?
The toughest was Murali [former Sri Lanka spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan] from a bowling point of view. In my early days, having to play against great West Indians such as Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Ian Bishop was very challenging to a young opening batsman, but every dog has its day.
How do you want to be remembered?
I was a hard-nosed cricketer, with a great loyalty towards playing cricket for my country, someone that never gave up and kept charging through and believing in myself. I’m all round just a steady head and a reasonable bloke.
