The Hindu : Sport : Hussey terms his century as rewarding

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Hussey terms his century as rewarding

K.C. Vijaya Kumar

A great feeling to get five wickets on a slow wicket at home, says Zaheer

— Photo: K.R. Deepak

STRIKE FORCE: On a day when Australian Mike Hussey scored a classy century, it was left to India’s Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma to come up with a good bowling display and share nine wickets.

Bangalore: Michael Hussey believes in grabbing every opportunity that comes his way.

Having waited in the sidelines while building his batting edifice over a pile of runs for Western Australia and in the Counties, Hussey made his belated ODI debut as a 28-year-old and a very late Test debut at 30. Now with a Test average hovering near the 70 mark, he has made it worth the wait.

“It took a long time to get into the Australian team so I never take it for granted. Like all the guys in the dressing room I wear the Baggy Green cap with pride,” Hussey spoke about his batting philosophy after his 146 anchored Australia past 400 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday. As for that average that churns envy, Hussey downplayed it to “luck.”

Hussey expressed satisfaction over his hundred. “It is special to get a Test match hundred in India which is the toughest place for an Australian,” he said.

On batting in these conditions, Hussey said: “It was difficult. With the new ball, any sort of crack on the pitch can do the most and as the ball got softer and started reverse swinging, it was a different challenge. Yesterday and today was challenging and very rewarding in the end,” Hussey said.

Building partnerships

Hussey said that he built partnerships based on singles. “The fields that Anil [Kumble] set were conducive for singles and it is always our plan to put pressure on the opposition fielding.

“As for being defensive, it comes down to the individual players. We don’t have Adam Gilchrist or a Michael Slater. We have got different sorts of players and their styles are effective,” Hussey said.

The southpaw admitted that batting in the later stages would be difficult. “It would be harder to bat as the match wears on. It is a very dry pitch with a lot of cracks and there is just enough variable bounce to keep all the bowlers interested,” Hussey said while adding that playing Kumble and Harbhajan was a challenge. When reminded that Australia has won all eight previous Tests when he scored a hundred, Hussey exclaimed: “Really? that’s a good omen. We got work to do as India has got off to a good start but I hope the winning record continues.”

Meanwhile Zaheer Khan who castled stumps en-route to a five for 91 haul, termed his bag of wickets as “something special.” “It is not easy to bowl on this wicket which is slow. It is a great feeling to get five wickets in India. In the first session I could not get my rhythm going. I was trying a little too much but in the second spell I decided to go slow,” Zaheer said.

Zaheer said that he has happy with the second day’s progress. “We have had a good start. Earlier we bowled to our plans, which was to make run scoring difficult and our intensity was good right throughout and we gave our best on the field,” Zaheer said.

Zaheer praised his new-ball partner Ishant Sharma. “He is shaping up as a good bowler, works hard on his game and that is encouraging. He is ready to bowl his heart out. Bowling with him in tandem is special because he adds that pace,” Zaheer said.

On the pitch, Zaheer said: “We (seamers) got nine wickets so we cannot complain. Yes it is a hard work but we are prepared for it.”

Zaheer also lauded Hussey’s innings. “He concentrated hard and it was not easy to score runs on this pitch,” Zaheer said.

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