Let me put it this way. At the time of writing this piece, I am to hear anything on Michael Hussey pulling out of 2009 IPL. If it is so, then we will be obviously missing him and I say this for a good reason.
When Hussey came on board last year, I straightaway realized that he brought far more to the table than just his cricketing talent. He is an amazingly simple person who blends well with the team, especially the youngsters. I think there is a lot about Hussey that other cricketers would do well to imbibe.
Without doubt, Hussey is wonderful company on and off the field. His approach and attitude to cricket is very professional. More importantly, I found him a very open person who is willing to share his cricketing knowledge and the many youngsters in our team gained a lot by just being in his company. Not for nothing that Hussey is a super star.
Last year, had Hussey and Matthew Hayden played the entire tournament, I am pretty sure we would have won the trophy by a long shot instead of finishing runners-up.
Hussey has been a great asset for Chennai Super Kings and so, if he is not in a position to be with us in South Africa during the 2009 IPL, then he would be obviously missed. Of course, I am saying the obvious, but the point is that his absence could dilute the team, requiring us to juggle the players around to fill up the vacancy.
I was hoping that Hussey would be with us in time for the crucial second phase of the preliminary league and coming in just as Andrew Flintoff leaves to join the England team. If Hussey opts out, then it would definitely limit our options as far as replacement is concerned.
In the meantime, I wouldn’t like to go too deeply into the mechanics of team composition as that is something we will be working on internally and not discuss it in a public forum such as this.
Rather, I would say that we still have plenty of talent to choose from, although to reiterate, Hussey’s presence would have been a huge plus for us. He has expressed his willingness to be available for the semi-finals and beyond. We will strive hard to help him join in for the final yard.
So, I would rather look ahead now and we will see how things pan out in the run up to the IPL. Personally, I am quite excited and hoping for a better tournament than last year!
