Australia's home advantage ‘has been taken away quite a lot’, says Hayden as Border-Gavaskar series nears

Former batting great Matthew Hayden feels neither of the two teams – Australia nor India, are outright favourites in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar series. Though his ex-teammate and captain Ricky Ponting predicted the hosts would win the series 3-1 this time, ending their dry run against India in Tests, Hayden says the hosts have let go of the home advantage quite a few times recently.

Hayden’s remarks have come after Australia lost twice at the Gabba in Brisbane in the last few years (first against India in 2021 and then to a lower-ranked West Indies team the last time), a fortress never breached in around 40 years.

Although Australia maintained its domination against all visiting teams all this time, India beat them twice at their home - in 2018 and 2022, besides thrashing them in two away series in the past decade.

Meanwhile, Hayden confirmed that the nature of the pitches in three of the five venues – Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, will have drop-in pitches.

"One is a day-night Test match [in Adelaide] - the second Test match," Hayden said.

"Again, once you get those overhead conditions under that twilight zone, they can be really difficult [to bat on]. I would go as far as to say that the home advantage in Australia has been taken away quite a lot, simply on the basis that if you get the wrong side of a certain session, be that you're 4 for 130, at twilight, you can be 8 for 150.

"So, there's no chance to naturally dominate a game. It's quite even the whole time, so it's a very different type of cricket because you don't have those traditional surfaces,” he continued.

‘He’s a package’ – Hayden on Jaiswal

Yashasvi Jaiswal’s rise to the top in such a brief period has impressed everyone, and Hayden is no different. Calling Jaiswal ‘a package’, Hayden said he looks forward to watching the Indian opener do well Down Under but cautioned him not to take things lightly against the Aussies.

Hayden, a well-renowned puller of the cricket ball, lauded Jaiswal’s superb stroke play, especially against the spin.

"I think he's a package," Hayden said of Jaiswal. "Yes, his strokeplay is superb. His ability, in particular, to hit on the up through the covers is phenomenal. [But] that'll also have its vulnerabilities. I'm looking forward to seeing how he adjusts on bouncy tracks. We did notice a few times in the IPL that he's a very hard hitter of the ball - [with the] pull shots in particular."

He, however, also put out the warning signs for Jaiswal against the three world-class seamers Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

"But that'll be challenged by three world-class speedsters, assuming they're all fit, and on much bigger grounds as well - grounds where it has to almost be the perfect contact for that ball to sail over for six. You can get caught easily, three-quarters of the way in the fence. So they have little adjustments that world-class players like Jaiswal will make for sure,” Hayden added.

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