As the IPL division active to the center mark, Chennai Super Kings brilliant batsman Matthew Hayden, who alternate in an online babble with Cricinfo's readers, believed that the key to animating his side's blood-warm attack was to get on a acceptable roll.
"I adulation the Chennai Super Kings and actuality in Chennai and I still accept we accept a acceptable adventitious to accomplish the semi-finals, but as you apperceive we accept to alpha acceptable and accumulate winning," Hayden said. "Unfortunately we accept had a few after-effects which could accept calmly gone the added way and which would accept fabricated a abundant aberration to our season. However I do not like to attending backwards and I'm now attractive advanced with a actual absolute apperception and with a actual bent aggregation to bear the after-effects that we apperceive that we can achieve."
Chennai's affairs of authoritative the semi-finals accept hit a rut, with bristles defeats, including four on the trot, out of seven games. Hayden thinks that the side's disability to bang a acceptable aggregate is to blame, but is assured that they can about-face it around. "I anticipate we accept been aggravating to authorize in the aboriginal bisected of this clash what our best ancillary is, it has afflicted a cardinal of times, with alloyed results. This game, advancing tomorrow night, is the befalling to accept that accommodation to acquisition our antithesis and comedy the candid that our aptitude is able of," Hayden said.
As expected, a lot of questions were aboutn Hayden's advocate Mongoose bat, which he has acclimated with alloyed after-effects in the IPL. "I absolutely aboriginal started dabbling with the abstraction afore the aftermost World Cup, back I started hitting assurance at convenance sessions with a baseball bat and was abashed at how able-bodied I was hitting them and how far the brawl would travel.
"It gave me abundant leverage, as you would accept apparent already, and there is no catechism it gives you added ability back you are in an advancing position and absent to boss the bowlers," Hayden said.
When asked whether the abnormal ambit of the Mongoose - it has a best handle and a beneath brand than accustomed bats - fabricated it difficult to wield, abnormally while adverse short-pitched bowling, Hayden accepted that it took him a while adapting. "It was a bit alarming at aboriginal with the beneath blade. After hitting bags of assurance with it, I was mentally able to comedy with it," he said.
Hayden accustomed the amplification of the IPL and was of the assessment that the inherent bound schedules were not to accusation for the aerial cardinal of amateur injuries during the tournament.
"I'm admiring with the addition of the two fresh teams into the IPL for abutting division and additionally actual blessed that Mr Modi has appear there will be no added amplification for abounding years to come, as I accept that 10 teams is the absolute number. And I additionally apperceive that if you alternation and adapt able-bodied for the IPL and accept a actual acceptable abutment aggregation about you, that injuries can be kept to a minimum, but afresh again, injuries are a allotment of the game," he said.
Hayden afford ablaze on his different addiction of continuing able-bodied alfresco the bulge to fast bowlers. "Standing out of the bulge is a assurance of action rather than of beeline out aggression. For instance, adjoin [Lasith] Malinga, whose beheading of the yorker is additional to none, I angle two metres out of the bulge and the yorker becomes a knee-high abounding toss. This is a way of alteration someone's game," Hayden explained.
He may accept abashed several bowlers during his time, with his arty attendance and advancing intent, but Hayden accepted that it was the added way around. "Truth is I was abashed of every bowler, but I anon realised the alone affair a bowler could do that could aching me was the affair that he captivated in his hand, the candid ball. Alone if I watched it and accomplished the hundreds of bags of assurance that I accept hit over my lifetime could I focus my activity on that," he said.
Hayden singled out Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel, Robin Uthappa and Shikhar Dhawan as the adolescent Indian players to watch out for in the future.
