Matthew Hayden sensationally ignores Virat Kohli and calls Rishabh Pant the Australian crowd favorite

Former Australian National Cricket Team player Matthew Hayden lavished rich praise on Rishabh Pant ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2025. He said that the keeper-batter is loved by the Australian public because of the way he played cricket over the last two tours.

Rishabh Pant was one of the main reasons behind the India National Cricket Team's successful tour of Australia. The keeper-batter played an attacking brand of cricket in both tours and helped the side win two back-to-back Test series down under.

In 2018-19, Rishabh Pant slammed a terrific century in Sydney and was decent throughout the entire series. But his best in the 2020-21 series. The keeper-batter didn't start the series as Wridhhiman Saha was preferred ahead of him but once he was back in the mix, he made a massive impact.

Rishabh Pant came up with two sensational knocks in two games. In the Sydney Test, he played an innings of 97 runs and helped India draw the game. After that in the next game, he played an unbeaten innings of 89 runs to help India chase the target in Gabba and win the series.

Rishabh Pant no doubt will be crucial for his Team this time around as well. The keeper-batter after the horrific accident is yet to make his comeback in the Tests. But he will be having the Duleep Trophy along with a couple of Test series at home before the series against Australia in November-December and January.

Matthew Hayden talked about the Impact of Rishabh Pant for India in the last series. He said that the keeper-batter played an exciting brand of cricket. He believes that Southpaw along with Virat Kohli will be key for the team. Speaking to PTI during the CEAT Awards, he explained:

"Guys like Rishabh Pant have got a muscle memory and the thirst for victory. He was such a key player last time he played there and the Australian public loved him as well, because of the nature of the way he played his game,"

"It was exciting. It was innovative. It was just fresh and good. Then you have got your old stewards, like Virat Kohli, (he) will want to make an impression again. From a batting point of view, I'm excited to see how India has that strategy to take on the Australian conditions," said Matthew Hayden.

The great thing from an Indian perspective is that when you look at the last victory, there was no Virat Kohli - Matthew Hayden

Matthew Hayden further mentioned that India won the last series without big names. He believes that the Rohit Sharma-led side will be carrying on confidence this time around. He elaborated:

"The great thing from an Indian perspective is that when you look at the last victory, there was no Virat Kohli. There was very much a second team bowling line-up that won at the Gabba,"

"That's the kind of confidence that you can expect this Indian unit to go to our shores (with) and go, guys, we've done this before, and we've done it in a way that's second to none, even without our key players," Matthew Hayden concluded.