“Matthew Hayden did not speak to me for 2-3 years”- Robin Uthappa On His Banter With Hayden In 2007

Indian ace Robin Uthappa revealed an incident where he ended up upsetting Matthew Hayden for three years. Uthappa, who considered Hayden as his inspiration, decided to thrash talk with him during an India vs Australia series back in 2007. In conversation with comedian Sourabh Pant, Uthappa spoke about the time when he got under the skin of Hayden, which resulted in a cold relation between the two cricketers for years.

Robin Uthappa Speaks About His Banter With Matthew Hayden

In 2007, India got the better of Australia in the semi-final of the first T20I World Cup in South Africa. The heavyweights of world cricket also indulged in a seven-match ODI series and one T20I in the same year. Uthappa recalled the banter between him and Hayden at the Kingsmead in Durban.

“In that game, Gauti (Gautam Gambhir) gave it back. I gave it back to Andrew Symonds, Mitchell Johnson, Brad Haddin. The toughest one that I encountered in that game was Matthew Hayden. He inspired me as a person and batsman,” Uthappa told.

“I remember Haydos was batting and in that game, he was going at me and that is when I decided, ‘Ok, I’m going to give it back. So, when they came to bat, I was giving it. And it got to Haydos at a point, while he was batting,” he stated.

“He said something to me which I’m not going to repeat and I said something back to him. He did not speak to me for 2-3 years. He would be very cold-shouldered to me. And it hurt. I wanted to win and make them feel as uncomfortable as possible, and I did that. We won but I missed out on interacting with someone who truly inspired me,” Uthappa added.

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