Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden rates his countryman Marcus Stoinis above India’s promising all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
“Marcus Stoinis is developing into a world-class all-rounder. He is unlucky not to be playing a little bit more Test cricket. He has quality in his play, although Hardik is also a fine player,” Hayden said, comparing the two pace-bowling all-rounders.
“Stoinis has adopted a wider approach to his game which is winning matches for his country. Hardik Pandya also has the same responsibility, but I think right now Stoinis is a better player,” Hayden said.
However, he praised Yuzvendra Chahal and predicted that the India leg-spinner will come out on top in the middle-overs battle against the hard-hitting Glenn Maxwell.
“Maxwell is a player who has struggled when playing in Indian conditions. His IPL performances have not been quite impactful.
“In the perspective of ODIs and Test matches, Maxwell has achieved one excellent 100. But Chahal is developing into a world-class spinner and possesses plenty of variation.
“Maxwell often comes in through the middle stages where he will really need to pump up the pace and Chahal has got variation, so I will get Chahal to babysit,” he commented when asked about the rivalry between Maxwell and Chahal and who would “baby-sit” (dominate) whom.
The 28-year-old Chahal has picked up 45 wickets from 29 T20Is and also has 71 ODI wickets from 40 games.
The India-Australia series, comprising two T20Is and five One-day Internationals, starts on February 24 with the first T20I to be held in Visakhapatnam.
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