Matthew Hayden offers no apologies for breaking the world record for the highest Test score against a weak team like Zimbabwe.
"I didn't ask to break the record," he told rediff.com "I am just happy playing in what is the best team in the world. It is the greatest honour for me to be playing for Australia."
Reflecting on his feat, Hayden said it does not matter whether it came against Zimbabwe or Bangladesh. "To score those many runs requires a certain amount of mental toughness. Sure I did not score the 380 against South Africa, Pakistan and New Zealand, which are world-beater sides. But I have scored lots of runs against them also.
"I reckon I had an ordinary World Cup, but I was just not up to it; I admit I wasn't a 100 per cent against the sides we played."
The Aussie opener is finally realising what it means to have the highest Test score under his name. "Until I got here it was a blur," he said. "Two days after I scored the 380 I was in Sydney, playing the next Test. Three days after that Test I was on a flight to India. I just had no time to reflect. I was numb after that innings. It was like winning the World Cup. And all ten-and-a-half hours were like that.
"The position of the game was such that I consider myself lucky. I never thought I would get 380 runs.
"The only other time I felt as good was when I batted in Sharjah in temperatures touching 55 degrees and got a hundred. To get through that day was amazing."
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Hayden also spoke about how he sits on the pitch before the game and concentrates in order to soak in the conditions. "It is very important for me. It might seem silly, but it is important that I sit there and feel the atmosphere, get used to the conditions. Once I do that I feel comfortable and the conditions don't seem alien to me."
He never thought he would get the world record score and blushes when reminded about skipper Steve Waugh's prophecy that if any man could break Brian Lara's record, it was Hayden.
"I didn't really think about it, you know," he said. "Steve has said that on many occasions, but I never let it pierce my head. I play for the moment. I compete with one ball at a time. That ball will decide my destiny. That ball is all that matters to me."
He confessed that there was a time when he was dropped from the side and all except him thought he would never play cricket for Australia again.
"Even my parents thought I won't ever play for Australia again," he said, "and it hurt. I went back to domestic cricket and scored mountains of runs to get back. That was the challenge for me. I believe I was little more ready than the first time around.
"I walked the talk," he remarked, with a smile broader than his blade.
Attributing his and the team's success to Australia's brisk scoring rate in Tests, he said, "It is the rate with which we bat that we can pile up huge scores. Imagine making 700 runs in a day and a half! We do that these days. The world follows the one-day culture, but Australia still follows Test match culture.
"See our grounds for Tests; they are packed. The feeling is amazing. People come in to watch Tests and it is only natural that we give them their money's worth."
Talking about the bats he uses, he said, "I use light bats unlike Sachin Tendulkar. In Australia I cannot imagine using a heavy bat. The surfaces in India are slow and allow for heavy bats, but not back home. I am very sensitive about my bats.
"I use Grey Nichols, which is English willow. We get them to Australia and then I pick the block of wood from which my bat is prepared. It is a great experience to watch your bat made being made. I stand all day while my bat is made. It creates a bond with the bats."
No wonder Hayden is extremely upset that he broke a bat against New Zealand during their Limited Overs International clash in Faridabad. "I carry three bats and if I break another one, I'm calling home."
On his link with India, he said, "I have a unique link with India. India has a special place in my heart. My career turned around from here in 2001. It was a special feeling. I remember speaking to chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns and begging him to send me to India in 1997. I told him I knew I could do something big here."
On the 2001 tour of India, Hayden scored 549 runs with a double century and a hundred, at a staggering average of 109.8.
"I want to soak into India when I come back here [in September next year]," he said. "I want to share something with the community. It is such a vastly different country in that sense to where I live. I live on the beach from where for 13 kilometres no one else stays. I can walk the entire stretch and not meet anyone. And here there are people everywhere."
Slide show
Hayden's Day Out
Hayden feels the absence of Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Jason Gillespie will showcase the next generation of Australian cricketers to the world. "Brad Williams and Nathan Bracken are very good players," he said. "It is up to them now to decide whether they want to be great players. It is tough, but then it is a challenge.
"There is always room for improvement. There is no such thing as perfection."
Terming the Gwalior defeat against India as a wakeup call, he said: "We have barely arrived and it does take time to adjust to the slow and low wickets here. The Gwalior wicket was good for cricket, but the Faridabad wicket was terrible."
Photographs: Getty Images and Jewella C Miranda
