Matthew Hayden gives his take on who would win a 100m race against prime MS Dhoni
Former Australia opener Matthew Hayden feels that Michael Hussey, in his prime, would have won a 100-meter race against MS Dhoni.
Dhoni is widely considered one of the fastest runners between the wickets in world cricket. Notably, he also once beat Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya in a 100-meter dash, despite being 12 years older than the latter.
Hayden, however, claimed that Hussey would have beaten Dhoni in a 100-meter dash. He made those comments while speaking to ESPNcricinfo.
During the conversation, he also mentioned that the one way to get on MS Dhoni's nerves is to be sloppy in the field. Hayden said:
"MS Dhoni is pretty unflappable, but if you really want to give him the shivers, just have a slack fielding effort and don't contribute in the field. That's one of the few times that you look at him go, 'Oh, that's not going to be good'."
Matthew Hayden played with MS Dhoni for three years for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was part of the squad when Chennai won their maiden IPL trophy in 2010.
"I'd fall into the trap pretty much nine times out of 10" - Matthew Hayden opens up on his on-field battle with Harbhajan Singh
Matthew Hayden stated that he found it very challenging to counter former Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh. He recalled that when the two initially squared off, Harbhajan thought that he could dismiss him on every ball.
Hayden added that while the veteran spinner did show some respect in the latter stages of his career, he would still somehow find a way to get out to him. He said:
"There were two parts of Harvey. There was Harvey that thought he could get me out every ball, and Harvey that finally gave me some respect and basically just kept me out of play, and that Harvey was really hard for me to play because I always wanted to come at him and I'd fall into the trap pretty much nine times out of 10."
Hayden also spoke about his experiences of winning ODI World Cups with Australia and emerging champions in the IPL with CSK.
"They are so different. A World Cup is such a monumental moment. Clearly, I was privileged to play two of them. The IPL was something that I feel real happy about playing in. It was at a time after the Monkeygate where both nations were struggling, there was power struggle as well on and off the field. So, the IPL was sensational. 2010 IPL is something that I will never forget. Winning down here in Mumbai was magic." Hayden added.
Matthew Hayden announced his retirement from international cricket in 2009. He finished with 15,064 runs across formats. The southpaw still holds the record for the highest individual score (380) by an Australian batter in Tests.