#4 Matthew Hayden (Australia)
One of the most aggressive openers in the history of the game, Matthew Hayden had an illustrious career as a Test opener with the Australian national team and holds the record for the highest individual Test score by an Australian - a feat he achieved when he scored 380 off just 437 balls against Zimbabwe in 2003.
His knock is still the second highest individual score in Test cricket and the highest by an opener and the destructive manner in which he smashed the opposition bowlers was something that set Hayden apart from his peers.
Having made his debut against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1994, Hayden had to wait nearly three years before playing his second match. He was out of favour with the national selectors for another three-year period between 1997 and 2000 before he truly made his mark in international cricket with his exploits during Australia's tour of India in 2001.
Hayden scored 549 runs from 3 Tests and went from strength to strength in both the Test and ODI formats for Australia, scoring 8625 runs from 103 Tests at an average of above 50 with 30 hundreds to his name.
Hayden played his final Test at Sydney against South Africa in 2009.
Follow IPL Auction 2025 Live Updates, News & Biddings at Sportskeeda. Get the fastest updates on Mega-Auction and cricket news