Sub-continent players selfish: Hayden

Matthew Hayden says Australia are the leading team because they play as a team whereas sub-continent's cricketers play for milestones.

Matthew Hayden says Australia are the leading cricketing team in the world because its players play as a team whereas cricketers from the sub-continent, including India, play for personal milestones.

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Hayden believes many subcontinental players bat too selfishly for their team's own good and this is what explains Australia's recent dominance over India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in one-day cricket.

The opener said a crucial difference between his side and their subcontinental rivals was that Australian batsmen were more willing to risk personal milestones for the sake of keeping their team's run rate high, according to a report in the 'Sydney Morning Herald'.

"In one-day cricket, if you get to 70 or 80, you can obviously get a hundred by just batting carefully but we just don't do that. It affects a batsman's statistics but we just don't go for those personal marks," he said.