Aussie legend Matthew Hayden speaks highly of India amid 'bad press' over COVID handling

Former Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden has penned an emotional note for India amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Hayden, who played for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League, slammed international media outlets for projecting India as some sort of failed state for its handling of the pandemic. Hayden lambasted the world media for hurling bad press at India without having an understanding of its diversity and challenges. Hayden went on to remind us that India s a population of 1.4 billion people and implementing any public scheme can be a challenge. 

"I have been visiting India for over a decade now and have travelled all over the country, especially Tamil Nadu which I consider my “spiritual home”. I have always had the highest respect for the leaders and public officials who are entrusted with the task of running such a diverse and vast country. Wherever I went, the people greeted me with love and affection, for which I remain in their debt. I can proudly claim that I have seen India up close over the years and that is why my heart bleeds to see it not only in agony at the moment, but also for the bad press that has been hurled at it by those who I am not sure spend any time here to understand India, its people, and their myriad challenges," Hayden wrote in his post. 

Indian business tycoon shared excerpts from the bog on social media and thanked Hayden for showing empathy towards India in these trying times. "Extracts from a heartfelt blog on India by @HaydosTweets A cricketer whose heart is even bigger than his towering physical stature. Thank you for the empathy and your affection...," Mahindra wrote on Twitter. Hayden, in his blog, also heaped praise on the Indian government for administering more COVID-19 doses than Australia despite being such a large population.

Extracts from a heartfelt blog on India by @HaydosTweets A cricketer whose heart is even bigger than his towering physical stature. Thank you for the empathy and your affection... pic.twitter.com/h671mKYJkG

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra)

 

One should note that Hayden is a member of the Australia-India Council that advises the Australian government on trade-related policies and foreign relations concerning India. Hayden is also part of the BCCI's vast pool of foreign commentators. In 2008, Hayden himself had called India a "third-world country", following which he received a lot of criticism. Although Hayden refused to take back his words, he did clarify that by third-world he didn't mean to disrespect India or its people, it was just a comment about most of the country's population is still living below the poverty line. 

India's COVID-19 crisis

India is battling one of the worst strains of COVID-19, which is contributing to the country's high infection and mortality rates. India registered more than 3,11,000 fresh infections in the last 24 hours. Deaths also remained as high as the country saw more than 4,000 people lost their lives due to the deadly disease. India has been recording more than 1 lakh cases for the past one and a half months. At present, India is the worst affected country in the world in terms of fresh cases and deaths. 

(Image Credit: Matthew Hayden/Facebook)