Rediff

Melbourne, Nov 13: Australia opener Matthew Hayden on Wednesday termed India as a "third world" country following their humiliating 0-2 loss in the Test series.

Hayden came out strongly in support of captain Ricky Ponting, who surprisingly preferred surrendering the fourth Test in Nagpur to avoid suspension for a slow over rate.

"Often we find ourselves waiting with hands on hips for someone to face up or someone on the sight board to move away or some of those little frustrations happening with third world countries," Hayden was quoted as saying by Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

Hayden believes that Ponting can come out of his Indian misadventure stronger and rebuild another champion Australian team in the near future.

"Ricky's an absolute bloody champion and he has won right across the globe in his reign in his captaincy. I completely endorse where he is at as an individual and a captain. To me, the next six months will show you how he can rebuild another Australia side which has lost a lot of its brand champions to become a very formidable opponent," Hayden said.

Interestingly, the Aussie left-hander had no complaints when he played in the Indian Premier League earlier this year after he was bought by the Chennai Super Kings for a whopping US $ 3,75,000.