Another reason to make Twenty/20 die.

Putting Hayden and 'God' in a sentence is blasphemy

"Hayden batting like God: Muralitharan
Arjun Ramachandran
April 24, 2009 - 12:42PM
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Matthew Hayden ... batting like God. Photo: AFP
Star Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has revealed his joy playing alongside Matthew Hayden in the IPL, describing the retired Australian opener's performances as "like God''.

After watching his Chennai Super Kings teammate smash 57 of 27 balls against the Delhi Daredevils last night, Muralitharan said: "It's a joy to watch him bat like that. He is a dangerous batsman.

"Hayden is batting like God here.''

www.smh.com.au

Not that hard. God was notoriously weak on the on-side and made lots of poor decisions. Like sending his only son in as a runner. Ended horribly.

but seriously ....Hayden and Gilchrist have been smashing them like the old days.

I didn’t realise Murily was dyslexic...surly he was referring to his dog like performance when he last played for Australia.

Great cover driver though.

Course he's god. He's a Queenslander.

Make Voss God before HackHayden

Sure he was a hack in his final year, but you can't possibly think he was sh*t the rest of his career?

Pretty certain if we were going to make a Queensland cricketer into god it would be A Border at the top of the list. Actually AB should have a statue outside the Gabba like Wally Lewis does outside of Suncorp Stadium.

Most of the last 5 years and I single handedly blame Hayden on the loss of the Ashes in England...he is my scapegoat.

Should have retired years ago...

Is it just me or has the IPL profile in Australia this season dipped a lot now matches are screened on One?

Probably more to do with the unfriendly time-zone of South Africa.

games are on at the same time/earlier than last year, no?

The appeal has certainly dropped for me, mainly because the atmosphere at the games has been so poor. The great thing about last year's comp was the crowds at the matches, which aren't there in the same numbers this year as well as not generating even close to the same amount of noise.

I'd much rather watch IPL than Australia v Pakistan ODIs.

I've got three reasons for this this, but first a few quick observations.

As reported in The Australian this week, the penetration of digital is currently only 45-50% of Australian households - being on ONE HD exclusively does reduce the reach of IPL in Australia this year.

The South African venture has already been a great success. The atmosphere has been great - and yes - admittedly these crowds are less partisan and smaller than back in India. But therein lies the strength of IPL - so now for my three reasons:

1. IPL is cricket. Sachin Tendulkar's innings in the first game for the Indians was sheer beauty. Full of skill, mastery and cricket shots.

2. IPL is more exciting than baseball. This is the form of the game that will make cricket a world game.

3. IPL is better than other forms of Twenty20. The hybrid teams elevate peronalities and personal performances. This is what cricket has always been about. It's why crowds rise to applaud opposition players scoring a century. IPL is much more unpredictable than international T20s. IPL is also a great forum for older players. This is significant as heading into the last T20 world cup most sides left their old players at home. In the IPL older (and former) players get to shine.

I don't care who's playing - I'll watch it.

For those who feel threatened.. don't worry - test cricket will remain - and IPL is here to stay.

As a foot note: The IPL in SA was a huge success.

Suck that next time you're shaking a sauce bottle you loser Aussies!