‘I will punch your face’ – Parthiv Patel reminisces when Matthew Hayden went mad at him

Back in 2004, Parthiv Patel, who was a teenager back then, tried to get under Matthew Hayden’s skins. But then the Indian youngster got an absolute hiding from the Australian left-handed batsman. Parthiv, who’s 35 now, tried to sledge Hayden after the latter got out after scoring 109 runs off 107 balls with his team chasing 304. Irfan Pathan found his outside edge to send him packing.

Parthiv wasn’t a part of the playing eleven and the Men in Blue won the ODI by 19 runs at The Gabba in Brisbane. Hayden, who has played all his cricket at Brisbane, was angry to the extent that he promised to punch Parthiv’s face after which the Indian wicketkeeper had to apologise.

He got so angry at me: Parthiv Patel

“I was carrying drinks in Brisbane, it was the match in which Irfan Pathan got him out. He had already scored a hundred, and it was a crucial stage when Irfan got him out. And I was just passing him by and I did a ‘hoo hoo’ to him,” Patel was quoted as saying on 100 Hours 100 Stars.

“He got so angry at me. He was standing at the Brisbane dressing room which is like a tunnel. He was standing there, and he said ‘if you do this again, I will punch your face’. I said ‘sorry’, I stood around and he went off,” he stated.

In that game, Hayden was a thorn in the flesh for India. The southpaw was keeping the innings going despite fall of wickets at the other end. Once he got out, India got a stranglehold on the hosts. Michael Clarke and Michael Bevan scored in the 40s, but their efforts went in vain.

About his equations with Hayden, Parthiv said that he shares a healthy camaraderie with the Queenslander. The duo has even played together for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

“Yeah, Hayden wanted to beat me up in Brisbane. But we became good friends after that. We played a lot of cricket together at CSK. We enjoyed each other’s company. Opening the batting was fun with him,” Parthiv added.