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Hussey wary of Indian spinners ahead of Super Eights
Ahead of Australia's first Super Eight clash against India, batsman Michael Hussey on Wednesday said the team is chalking out an appropriate strategy to cope with the variety of spinners on offer by the 2007 World Twenty20 Champions.
India advanced into the Super Eights after thrashing reigning Twenty20 World Champions England in their last group match.
Chasing 171 for victory, England crumbled to 80 all out, their lowest Twenty20 total condemning the defending champions to their heaviest loss in the shortest form of the game.
The Australian team toiled hard under the sun during an extensive net session.
Speaking to mediapersons in Colombo, Hussey said the Indians had a great mix of conventional and part-time spinners that could trouble the Australian unit.
"They (India) have got quality players all the way down, so we are going to have to adapt pretty quickly. I do suspect they will bowl a fair bit of spin to us, if it's not the front line spinners then maybe the part-timers can have a few overs as well. Guys like Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma can bowl some off-spinners as well, even (Virender) Sehwag can bowl. So they have got a lot of options there they can bring in and get an over out of someone here or there. We are going to have to adapt very quickly to whoever they bring on and it's going to be a tough challenge," said Hussey.
'Hopefully we can play a little bit better than the English team'
India's comprehensive drubbing of England was anchored by comeback man, Harbhajan Singh, who bagged the man-of-the-match award for his figures of four for 12.
Hussey was all praise for Harbhajan Singh, but added that the Australian team needed to cope better than England to fare well against him.
"He is a class act. He has been a class act for a long period of time so he is someone we have got to respect. But this is Twenty20 and you have got to be aggressive as well and try and put him under pressure. He did a fantastic job the other night but hopefully we can play a little bit better than the English team," Hussey added.
India is placed with Australia, South Africa and Pakistan in their Super Eight group. The top two teams would qualify for the semi-finals of the tournament.
India under Dhoni won the inaugural edition of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, the beginning of a performance crest that saw the ''Men in Blue'' rise to the top of the game in Tests, with the crowning glory in 2011 when they won the 50-over World Cup to complete their dominance of the game.