Meet the bookish Hussey

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He is the second most expensive overseas IPL player. But all-rounder David Hussey calls himself a nerd off the field! “When I am not playing cricket, I am either reading books or watching movies. Basically I am a nerd,” confesses David Hussey. Touted as the star of Kings XI Punjab, David is very serious about garnering a victory for his team.

The younger of the Hussey brothers, David is so much in love with the game that he admits considering his brother Michael a rival on field. Though the older one is currently not playing in the tournament, David says, “When on field he wants Chennai Super Kings to win and I want Kings XI Punjab to win. We both share the “Kings” title and want our teams to win so we fight it out really hard.”

Talk to him about his team and co-players, David seems to be very fond of the team captain, Gilchrist. “He is very calm and composed,” says the cricketer. Prod him more about his other companions and he reveals, “Piyush Chawla is the funniest guy, he keeps cracking jokes and makes everyone laugh. Shaun Marsh is the biggest joker ever. Off the field, he mimics all the players. Praveen Kumar is the most serious one. He usually doesn’t laugh. The only time he was laughing was during the Ooh-la-la Kingfisher shoot.”

Touring India during the IPL tournaments, David seems to be impressed with two cities the most. Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium is a favourite with the cricketer. “It is an awesome stadium, I just hope we get to play more matches in the coming years,” says David. But he also has a soft corner for namma city, “The Bengaluru stadium has small boundaries, so it is so much more fun to play,” he adds.

An aggressive batsman on field with a record of over 4,000 runs in the T20 format, David is definitely a no-nonsense player. Though his USP is high among the franchisees, the hot cricketer prefers to stay away from monetary rankings. “It is really embarrassing to be compared. I am not bothered about the money offered. For me the most important thing is to manage a game and score runs,” says David.

Talking about his brother he says, “We were very naughty kids and were not at all the quiet sorts. Both of us grew up together playing cricket and share an extremely close relationship,” reveals David. So does he consider his elder brother as his mentor, we ask. “Observing him play on field was the actual mentoring. Else when we are together, we never talk about cricket. It’s always about family and friends,” concludes the cricketer.