Hussey silences critics
Mike Hussey entered the on-going seven-match one-day series with the prying eyes of selectors on him after a patchy run of late. It did not help his cause either when Australian chief selector Andrew Hilditch openly said the left-hander’s place in the team was not secure.
Lean form and waning faith of bigwigs can put even the most hard-nosed pros under pressure, but Hussey was cut from different cloth.
Mr Cricket, a sobriquet England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff had given to Hussey, silenced his detractors with a powerful show against India. Hussey gave an indication of things to come when he smashed his way to a 73 in the first one-dayer in Baroda, before notching up 53, 81 (n.o), 40 and 31 (n.o.) in the subsequent matches for a total of 278 runs to be among the top run-getters from either side.
It was the kind of batting that made Hussey the mainstay of Australian middle-order in Tests and one-dayers. “At no stage, I was worried about my form. Personally, I knew I was just a one or two knocks away from regaining the rhythm. Just that you need not to worry and remain patient for your moment,” Hussey said.
His unbeaten 81 on a slow and low Kotla pitch was a master class in innings building and was a testimony why Australians consider Hussey as the true successor of Michael Bevan in limited overs cricket.
If Hussey was patient enough to wait for his chances during that innings, the left-hander showed a different face in the fifth one-dayer at Hyderabad. Hussey proved that aggressive ways were not alien to him while showing a penchant to manufacture shots out of good balls.
“This tour has been so satisfying for me. It is tough to come to India when you are not doing great, but I have managed to buck the trend here while scoring some important runs for the team, hopefully I can continue to do that in the remainder of the series,” he said.
