5 times Matthew Hayden made an improbable comeback

Comeback to the ODI side with a bang

Hayden scored 659 runs - the most - in just 10 innings during the 2007 World Cup with 3 centuries at 73.22

Matthew Hayden was out of reckoning from the one-day side for more than a year after an unsuccessful stint during his team's England tour in 2005. Hayden kept performing at the Test level, but like most players, dreamt of winning another World Cup for his team.

He finally got a small window to perform - getting his name in the DLF tri-series squad for Malaysia, albeit missing out on the ICC Champions Trophy squad, which was named at the same time. In his only two outings in that series, he scored 49 and 54. He didn't feature in the final that Australia won, as in the successful Champions Trophy team - wherein Shane Watson was making headlines as the second opener.

Two match-winning knocks during the home Ashes series combined with an injury to Watson and average performances from Simon Katich gave Hayden just the chance he needed before the World Cup. Getting his name on the squad for the long CB Series, Hayden scored 387 runs at 43, including a match-winning hundred and 82 in the first final. He celebrated his World Cup selection with a career-best 181 not out against New Zealand in his last innings before cricket's biggest tournament.

In that innings, however, Hayden injured his toe to a yorker from Mark Gillespie but batted through the innings. While many people did not realize, Hayden batted through the World Cup with an injured foot - running like a hare and managing 659 runs in the tournament. He would have been man of the tournament or should have at least shared the trophy with teammate Glenn McGrath, who took 26 wickets. But he'd be content with the fact that his consistent hitting that included 3 centuries and yet another 100-plus opening stand with Gilchrist in the final - did not give any team a chance.

He scored over 1600 runs in ODI's that year, including five centuries. He was one of the top scorers in the inaugural ICC World T20, almost getting his team to the final. He scored almost 300 runs in the CB series that was played early next year too, which turned out to be his last ODI series ever - along with that of World Cup-winning teammates Adam Gilchrist and Brad Hogg.