Matthew Hayden, former Australia opener and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) player, remained a crucial part of the Ricky Ponting-led Aussie line-up during the national side’s dominant run in world cricket across formats. Playing in 103 Tests, 161 ODIs and 9 T20Is, the former swashbuckling left-hander recently revealed that he took inspiration from a scene while watching Hollywood actor Tom Cruise’s action flick, ‘The Last Samurai’.
In the blockbuster movie, there is a scene where Cruise’s character goes down in one-on-one combat and is challenged shortly after to clear his mind and thoughts. Thus, the former Aussie batsman revealed how that moment proved to be a real eye-opener for him.
Revealing in Shane Watson’s Lessons Learnt with the Greats podcast, Hayden said, “The mental aspects of the game, which transfer over to the physical aspects of the game. There’s a stillness and a beauty in batting which is a mediation in itself that we all miss, still to this day, that connection purely around having nothing but an empty vessel to work with so that you can absorb and retain information quicker.”
