Before the Ashes began, former Australia opening batter Hayden had said that he would walk around the Melbourne Cricket
Ground (MCG) naked if Root didn't score a century in the five-match Ashes. It just took three innings for the England
batter to save Hayden and the Australian public.
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After the right-hander brought up his ton, Hayden quickly congratulated Root, and he was even seen giving a pumped-up
reaction. Before the start of play on Day 3, Root finally responded to Hayden's praise, saying it felt nice to receive
some warm words from a legendary batter.
"Actually, it's really nice of him to give me the confidence and backing in the first place. But yeah, kind of him to
send those words and obviously an Australian great and he's done special things in the game," said Root.
“So obviously, nice to get that from him, but yeah, as well, to the Australian public that they don't have to witness
that. And his family, I think, they'll be quite happy too,” he added.
Following Root's century on the opening day of the Gabba Test, Hayden joked that no one had “more skin in the game” than
him, and he also congratulated the former England captain on finally getting a much-deserved century in Australia.
“Congratulations mate on a hundred here in Australia. Took you a while, and there was no one who had more skin in the
game than me. Literally, I was backing you for a hundred in a good way. Congratulations, ten fifties and a finally a
hundred. You little ripper mate. Have a beauty and bloody enjoy it,” said Hayden.
Speaking of the first Ashes Test, England won the toss and opted to bat first. The visitors posted 334 runs on the board
after Joe Root and Zak Crawley got among the runs in Brisbane.
Australia went past the total on Day 2, taking a lead as Steve Smith, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey
all scored half-centuries. Australia already have a 1-0 lead in the five-match series after winning the opening Test in