Matthew Hayden tells Khawaja to ‘shut up, move on, and get runs’

Matthew Hayden is perhaps one of the best openers to have ever been produced by Australia. With an unnerving ability to decimate bowling attacks with his sparkling cocktails of batsmanship, the former opener has seen it all in different forms of cricket. However, following the 3-0 hammering against Sri Lanka, Hayden was one of those players to become a tad bit agitated with the performance.

However, with a few outbursts from the Australian players, Matthew Hayden is particularly annoyed with the comments made by 29-year old Usman Khawaja. The southpaw had earlier lashed out at the selectors stating that he should have played the match at Colombo. He also added that he was the scapegoat for the same.

“It’s a pretty big decision after just two Test matches,” Khawaja told Fairfax. “It was disappointing that Joe Burns and I were sorts of the scapegoats for not performing.”

However, while Khawaja did indeed receive some sympathy from a portion of the former Australian players, it was clear that he was getting none of it from Matthew Hayden. The latter did agree with the 29-year old but also said that he had to focus on his job and move on by scoring runs. Khawaja is expected to be a part of the XI against South Africa in the first day-night Test match at Adelaide.

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“It never pays to argue the toss,” Hayden said on Triple M’s Rush Houron Friday (October 28). “In sporting sides you kind of feel a bit gypped at times because you want to do better and you’re driven by your own success. But it’s always clearly one case, and that’s let your bat do the talking.

“I do think it was a harsh call on Uzzy, he’s always had those calls, unfortunately,” he added. “He just has to shut up and get runs — which he’s done this particular innings (in the Sheffield Shield this week) — but keep getting runs and keep mounting his story otherwise there’s going to be other players to take his spot.”

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