Hussey's secret of succes in India lies in better handling of spinners
Mike Hussey may not be as elegant as the likes of Brian Lara but he has been more consistent in India soil than the West Indian great and India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels the reason behind the Australian's success was the way he handles the spinners in the middle overs.
Lara, an elegant left-hander, had a none-too-impressive record against India in the latter's home soil in both Tests and ODIs.
The case of former England captain David Gower, one of the most stylish left-handed batsmen to grace the game, is similar as often he had been a fialure on Indian soil.
Compared to these two stalwarts, the success of Hussey in the current seven-match ODI series as well as in last year's Test rubber is worth noting.
Hussey has been the stumbling block for the Indian bowlers in the middle overs in the first four ties of the ongoing rubber.
In fact since March 2 last year, his scores in ODIs against India are very consistent -– 45, 44 (in Australia), 67 (in Champions Trophy at Centurion this year), 73, 53, 81 not out and 40.
In the Test series in last October-November he came up with innings of 146 and 31 in Bangalore, 54 and 1 at Mohali, 53 in Delhi, 90 and 19 in Nagpur.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today attributed Hussey's success to eschewing risky elements initially.
"If somebody is playing good cricket, you cannot do much about it. He bats quite safely, gets off to a good start and later on he manages to get a strike rate of 100 per cent. Initially, he plays safe, runs between the wickets very well, takes those singles and that's a big asset for any middle order batsman," Dhoni said.
"If you can take the fielders on and put pressure, more often than not you will score with a strike rate of close to 90. If you stay till the end, playing the last few overs and the second Power Play, more often than not you score 70-80 runs if not a century. That's what he's been doing for Australia," Dhoni added.
