Hussey provides immediate impact

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Michael Hussey provided an immediate impact upon his return to IPL after an ODI series in Bangladesh.

The Aussie left-hander’s composed knock of an unbeaten 83 against Royal Challengers Bangalore helped Chennai Super Kings come back to winning ways.

Hussey said he was playing according to the situation of the game.

“Vijay and I wanted to give a good start. I thought it was better to get the runs early as the pitch was good with the new ball. It was just a case of playing and had the partnerships going. Vijay was part of the partnership as then he got out. We had to start with Raina to create a platform. He set himself hard and helped couple of momentum going again and I was just playing with those sorts of guys really. It was a case of quickly assessing the situation as we lost couple of wickets and setting up a good total,” said Hussey.

For Chennai, it was their sixth victory in the last seven home matches. Hussey said Chepauk is turning out to be a real fortress for the CSK. “I hope we will continue our winning momentum here. It’s a unique wicket and adapting to the condition is not easy,” he said.

The Aussie said the key to Super Kings’ success also lay in the flexibility while exercising options, especially in deciding on the four foreign players in the playing eleven.

“Sometimes, I might have to go opening and try and set a platform for the team. There might be other times that I might be batting in the middle order. I think the Chennai team is very flexible. We might bring in Scott Styris in the other game and bring in Doug Bollinger and so on. We can be very flexible with the overseas players. Today was a great opportunity to open the innings,” he said.

Hussey said he was happy for Suraj Randiv, who came back to form with the ball picking two important wickets. “He is an important member of our team. We have three spinners (Randiv, R. Ashwin, Sahdab Jagati) in the playing XI and all of them are different. Dhoni uses them at right time to make it big challenge for the opposition,” said Hussey.

Meanwhile, a disappointed Daniel Vettori blamed Royal Challengers Bangalore’s poor fielding for their third consecutive defeat in the IPL Season 4. The New Zealander said two dropped catches (both Hussey’s) made a big difference.

“Individually, we have good fielders, but as a collective unit we need more improvement in the ground fielding. We conceded about 20 to 25 extra runs and that let the opposition post an imposing target,” said the RCB skipper.

The left-arm spinner is also concerned about his top-order who failed to provide a bright start.

“While chasing big targets, a good start is important. But Dilshan’s early departure hurt us badly and it put more pressure on AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli. The duo are big match players and they always need help from the top order. We do have batting strength to chase any targets but it can be done only when every member of the team chips in with their contribution,” added Vettori.