Michael Hussey earned the nickname of ‘Mr.Cricket’ after digging Australia out of innumerable holes in many different situation during his cricket career. He had to wait until he was 30 years old to make his international debut and in the 7-8 years career he had, he made everyone stand up and notice his talent.

Sportsstarlive.com chatted with Hussey before the commencement of Australia tour to India.

Speaking about Australia’s chances of beating India in India, he said, “I think it’s going to be a great series, two heavyweight teams really. Australia will take a lot of confidence from the Test series even though we didn’t win the series. The guys will take a lot of confidence from it. We’ve actually had good success in ODI cricket in India before plus the players have a lot of experience of playing in Indian conditions with the IPL, the Test series and things like that. I think the guys will be keen to do well, and they have a chance to upset India in the series. They want to win in India, it’s one of the hardest places to win, be it a Test, ODI or Twenty20 series.”

Speaking about Australia getting whitewashed by Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka, Hussey said that it was a collective failure of spinners and batsmen, that Australia lost all the 3 Tests. He said that pitches in Australia do not support spin and all the experience of playing spin comes from IPL for the Australian players.

He said that the recent trips of Australia and India A teams to both the countries have helped young players develop game for different pitches.

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He said, “Virat Kohli is a great example. The first time he came, he wasn’t quite sure, but then he got better and better every single time he has come to Australia. That’s what you want as a player — you want to be tested in all the different conditions around the world. The first time you might find it hard, the second time it will get better and the third time, it will get even better. That’s one thing about this Australian team coming into this series. We’ve got guys who have come (to India) on quite a few occasions which will give them confidence to do well in the series.”

Hussey didn’t talk much about the player’s contract dispute, but said, “It (CA-ACA deadlock) wasn’t good for cricket — either for the players or the administrators. But thankfully now, the deal is done and we can get on with the real stuff of playing cricket.”

One how he prepared himself for batting in India, Hussey said, “I was very lucky to be able to come here, to Chennai actually, for what we call as simulation tours. We come in here, bat in the nets; we’ve practice games and things like that in Indian conditions. one thing I learnt here — you can’t just run every single time at the bowler especially because they’ll adjust and bowl flatter and quicker. I found it’s a lot different playing Test cricket in India than say ODIs and Twenty20s where the pitches are really good for batting. Even things like dealing with different weather — batting in Chennai, for instance, is extremely difficult than batting in Perth. It might still be hot in Perth but it is dry heat. Getting accustomed to the humidity and sweating all the time, it takes a little time.”

Hussey also commented on Dhoni and his desire of playing in the 2019 World Cup.

He said, “If he (Dhoni) wants to, there’s no reason why he can’t. He has obviously been a great player and a great captain for India for a long time. As long as he is still contributing, I don’t see why he can’t continue.  I think if he has the desire, then he’s good enough to get there.”

Hussey welcomed CSK back into the IPL fold and said that the fans in Chennai have been very excited to see their team back into the league, as CSK has a great legacy in T20 cricket.

Hussey regarded Test cricket as the best format of all, saying, “Test cricket is so great; it caters to different types of players.  I still think there’s place for a technically correct batsman who can bat for a longer period of time. there can be certain stages in the game where someone like (Hardik) Pandya can come in and thwack the ball everywhere. But sometimes you will need a (Cheteshwar) Pujara to bat for three days. That’s what you want as a player; you want to be tested on all those different levels and that’s how you get respect from everyone in the game.”