Five best batsmen against India in Test cricket

#2 - Matthew Hayden

While Matthew Hayden's numbers against India (1888 runs in 18 matches at an average of 59) definitely serve as some indicator of his good performances against them, they hardly tell the whole story. Right from his first tour of India in 2001, where he was almost undoubtedly Australia's finest player and a major reason for them almost clinching a victory, to his final series against them in 2008, he has dominated against India.

In his first series against them, which is now the famed 2001 India vs Australia series, visiting a country where Australian batsmen traditionally struggle against spin, he used the sweep extremely effectively and was able to counter India's spinners: he went on to score 549 runs in six innings at a mind-blowing average of 109.8.

While that was certainly his finest series against India - and perhaps the best performance by an overseas opener in Indian conditions - he performed well against them at other times as well and established himself as one of the best performers against India, particularly in Indian conditions.