RCB vs DC: Matthew Hayden standing next to Sunil Gavaskar during Virat Kohli's rant, opens fire at Gavaskar

Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden has likened Indian batting stalwart Virat Kohli to legendary former cricketers Steve Waugh and Brian Lara among others.

Matthew Hayden, who is currently on commentary duty with Star Sports for IPL 2024, had some words of support for Virat Kohli. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru opener might be on top of the Orange Cap race but he has been criticized a lot regarding his strike rate. With just two games left to play this season, Kohli will be aiming to continue his performance and finish IPL 2024 as the highest scorer.

What did Matthew Hayden say about Virat Kohli?

While speaking to Star Sports recently, Matthew Hayden drew comparisons between Virat Kohli and some other legends of the game. He was talking about the trending topic of Kohli's striking rate in the IPL 2024 season and how all the criticism has helped him improve.

Previously as well, Hayden had reminded everyone that Virat Kohli is having his best IPL season in almost 7 years in terms of strike rate. Kohli's strike rate of 153.51 after 12 matches in IPL 2024 is the best that he has registered since his most prolific season back in 2016 when he amassed over 900 runs.

During IPL 2016, Virat Kohli was the key reason behind Bengaluru's run-in to the final where they unfortunately lost to the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The former RCB captain had scored 973 runs at a striking rate of 152.03 and since then (until 2024), the highest rate he had was 141.46 during the 2019 season.

So despite the strike rate being up there, Virat Kohli has come across a lot of bashing on social media as well as from the commentators. That, according to Matthew Hayden, fueled the fire in Kohli and he became an even more dangerous cricketer but most importantly, he became a very dangerous Athlete.

"So, I love the way that it's fueled his fire and fueled some improvement and, you know, look out. A dangerous athlete is one who's been wounded. There have been a few in my lifetime that I can remember." - Hayden said via Star Sports.

Hayden namedrops a few cricketers who have been in a similar situation as Kohli

Matthew Hayden then namedropped a few former Cricketers who have received the same kind of treatment as Virat Kohli during their playing days. Hayden first named Steve Waugh and claimed that not a single word of criticism used to get to his head.

Hayden then said that Kevin Pietersen was a personality who used to excel in pressure and so did the great Brian Lara. The former Aussie World Cup winner claimed that Kohli falls into the category of Waugh, Pietersen, and Lara who used to feed off the criticism.

"Steve Waugh never used to have a word to him. Kevin Pietersen, he used to love the pressure. Brian Lara, Don't talk to him. Why would you do that? He'll just smash you. So, guys that are of that kind of quality, if you try and needle them, all they do is get better." - Matthew Hayden concluded.