Watch: “Rest of my life in jail…”- Matthew Hayden relooks Joe Root century prediction in Ashes 2025/26

The former left-handed opening batter of the Australian side, Matthew Hayden, in a hilarious interaction with Sky Sports Cricket, has expressed his concern about Joe Root scoring a century by the end of the Ashes 2025/26. But the former England captain had a poor outing during the opening game at the Optus Stadium in Perth.

In that game, Root was dismissed for zero as he got an outside edge into the hands of the slip region against Mitchell Starc before getting the ball on to the stumps in the second innings. But the England batter would still have eight more innings to get the monkey off his back in what could turn out to be his last Australia trip.

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“I’m concerned for multiple reasons. The last thing I want to do at 54 is spend the rest of my life in jail. But I tell you. And on a serious note, I probably didn’t see a lot of convincing evidence from Joe Root. You know, I know that he loves to own that fifth and sixth stump channel and Australia will.” Hayden expressed on Sky Sports Cricket.

Watch: Matthew Hayden concerned about his prediction of Joe Root's century in Ashes 2025/26

Hayden claimed that Root didn’t look good with his technique in the last fixture, and the pressure would only increase from hereon, going deep into the series. Root wasn’t happy either with what he did with the bat in that Western Test.

“They won’t need to go anywhere else other than that, after what I saw. And you know those little dabs, and you know the gather will be no different as well, especially under lights and pink ball. So it’s going to be a big challenge for Joe Root, and it’s even a bigger challenge for me.” Hayden shed light in that video.

“It’s pretty disappointing in terms of the numbers. First innings, I thought it was a good ball. It’s one of those things you can get early on. You’ve got to try and find a way to get through that phase when it’s tricky at the start. And then in the second innings, I thought my tempo was really good, made one mistake.” Joe Root claimed.