Legendary Australian cricket team opener Matthew Hayden faced a lot of criticism from fans following his controversial comments during the fifth T20I encounter between India and Australia in Bengaluru on Sunday. Australia needed 10 runs to win from the final over of the match and India skipper Suryakumar Yadav handed the ball to young pacer Arshdeep Singh. The first ball was a bouncer and although Matthew Wade was convinced that it was going above his head, the umpire did not award a wide to Australia. Hayden was not happy with the decision given by the umpire and following the replays of the incident, he said that Wade was correct in feeling upset by the decision taken by the umpire.
“You can see why he is upset; that's definitely a wide. Way over his head. It has to be about his position as well. He was standing up on that ball, and it was still over his head,” he said on commentary.
On the penultimate delivery of the over, controversy struck once again as a shot straight down the ground from Nathan Ellis struck the umpire Virender Sharma. The commentators discussed the possibility of the ball reaching the boundary if it did not hit the umpire after Arshdeep failed to take the catch.
“The umpire has done his job for the second time this over. Have a look at this. This time, it's the one in front, not on square. They are tag-teaming here,” Hayden commented during the discussion.
Australia went on to lose to the game by six runs and Hayden's comments received a lot of criticism from fans on social media who believed that a well-known figure like him should say such things about umpires.