2001
In the first Test match between India and Australia in 2001, Matthew Hayden scored 119 runs. Due to this knock, Hayden was looked upon as one of the great batsman of the era. Prior to this match, he had struggled in 13 Tests over 7 years and had come to India with a good preparation. He came to bat when his team was tottering at 5 for 99 and he quickly dominated the Indian bowling. Along with Adam Gilchrist, he set up a 197 run partnership which laid the foundation of a 10 wicket triumph. 
2002
In the 2nd Test match between Pakistan and Australia in 2002 at Sharjah, Hayden accumulated 119 runs. In this match, no batsman persisted on the pitch for more than 50 minutes. However, Hayden displayed his physical prowess by facing the Pakistani attack for 431 minutes. Due to this mammoth effort, he even outscored the opponent who was all out for 59 and 53. During this year, Shoaib Akhtar reached his pinnacle as a bowler, however Hayden was better as a batsman. During this century innings, Hayden was hit in the head by Akhtar, but he recovered and asked Akhtar “is that all you’ve got?”.
2002-03
In the 2002-03 season, in the first Test match between Australia and England at Brisbane, Hayden scored 197 in the 1st innings and 103 in the 2nd innings. At the end of the first day, Australia had scored 364 runs for the loss of 2 wickets with Hayden contributing 186 not out. On the second day, Hayden could not continue his knock for a long time. However, in the second innings, he again exhibited tremendous form and hit his second century. This was the first of the two occasions when he had scored centuries in both innings of a Test match.
2003-04
In the 1st Test match between Australia and Zimbabwe at Perth in 2003-04 season, Hayden amassed 380 runs. He played for about a couple of days and during his knock clobbered 11 sixers and 38 boundaries. His strike rate was 86.95 and the Zimbabwe team had no respite till Hayden had overcome Brian Lara’s record of 375 runs. However, Hayden’s record did not last long and in 2004, Brian Lara accrued 400 runs against England. Also, as Hayden’s record was against Zimbabwe, it was not looked upon as one of the great innings.
2004
Hayden stockpiled 130 runs against Sri Lanka in the 1st Test match at Galle in the 2004 season. In the 1st innings, Australia was behind Sri Lanka by 161 runs. However, Hayden adhered to the pitch and hit a century. When he returned back to the pavilion, his team was leading by 84 runs. This was a very versatile innings from Hayden and he faced the peril posed by Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas with consummate ease. Due to this, Ricky Ponting had a good start of captaincy. This was a time when Hayden was one of the most productive batsman in cricket.