Matthew Hayden, the former Australia opener and newly appointed Pakistan batting consultant, said leadership will be key in the much anticipated India-Pakistan T20 World Cup clash in “dogfight conditions” in Dubai on Sunday.
Terming the match a real dogfight, Matthew Hayden, who is working with the Pakistan team as a batting consultant, said the margin for error will be very little in the big match, so leadership will be the key to the outcome.
Matthew Hayden: Leadership Will Be The Key
Matthew Hayden cited examples of MS Dhoni and Eoin Morgan, who led their respective IPL franchises CSK and KKR to the IPL 2021 with success when their own individual performances with the bat were not at expected levels.
“Their individual performances were not as good as they have previously done as per their statistical records but the way they led their troops and conducted themselves played an important part in their teams reaching the IPL final in UAE conditions,” Hayden said in a media interaction.
“I feel leadership will be key in the coming match as conditions in UAE leave very little margin for error and there are dogfight conditions out there.”
Matthew Hayden said Pakistan captain Babar Azam had a role to play in the match as a leader and a premium batter.
“There will be additional pressure on him as captain and batsman because he will be targeted and everyone will be wanting to like they say, put him in their pocket. Babar has command and presence and he needs to fulfill that role in a batting sense and captain.”
India and Pakistan will face off in their Super 12s opener on Sunday, October 24 as fireworks are expected in the game between the two arch-rivals. Pakistan’s next game will see them take on New Zealand just two days later. Defeats in those two games would probably spell curtains on their campaign.
Babar Azam has scored 2,204 runs in international T20I cricket in 61 matches at an average of 46.89 with one century and 20 half-centuries. He has scored 7055 runs in 196 T20s averaging 46.11 with 6 tons and 59 fifties.
Matthew Hayden: KL Rahul Possesses A Major Threat To Pakistan
Matthew Hayden also observed that having followed Indian cricket very closely over the years, he believed that dashing batsmen KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant pose the biggest threat to Pakistan in the match.
“More or less I have watched KL Rahul grow and he is a major threat to Pakistan. I have watched him grow up as a boy. I have seen his struggles and his dominance in shorter formats.
“I have seen someone like Rishab Pant, his brash nature and beautiful vision for the game, how he has destroyed bowling attacks because he has got the opportunity because he sees it that way.”
KL Rahul, one of the top run-getters in the IPL 2021, smashed a sparkling fifty against England in India’s first warm-up match and also looked in great touch against Australia in the second warm-up match. On the other hand, Rishabh Pant had a pretty good IPL 2021 himself and hit some lusty blows against England in the 1st warm-up game.
The Australian opener also said, having watched the game’s various elements and been part of it. He can say that nothing matches the rivalry between Pakistan and India, with the Ashes between England and Australia coming a close second to the arch-rivals games.
“For an Australian obviously the Ashes and matches against England are tops but nothing matches the rivalry of these two teams.”
Matthew Hayden said Pakistan has some wonderful assets that will perform on the given day. He termed Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Fakhar Zaman as key players for Pakistan.
“I have learned for whatever reason you are always under pressure, you don’t need to create additional pressure to what the game demands.”
Asked about his short-term role as a batting consultant with the Pakistan team, Matthew Hayden said his main purpose was to bring calmness and control among cricketers and tell the players to remain focused because T20I World Cups are quite challenging.