On Friday, former Australian cricketer Michael Hussey said that conditions for the third Test in Melbourne will be a lot different from those in Perth and the Indian team should consider including Hardik Pandya to bring balance to their attack. The third Test begins in Melbourne on December 26 and the MCG pitch was earlier scrutinized after it hosted a game against England during last year’s Ashes, and it ended in a draw, however, the ground received a warning from the ICC.
As per the reports in PTI, Hussey said, “Conditions in Perth were quite unique and in Melbourne conditions will be totally different. I thought the Indian fast bowling unit has bowled beautifully in this series. They bowled a lot of overs in Adelaide and Perth in hot conditions but had to work hard (for Australian wickets). He (Pandya) is a bit like Mitchell Marsh when he is in form. You get an extra bowling option that can take a little load away from the pacers particularly as the four-match series wears on. So this (bowling all-rounder) is something for both sides to look at.”
Hussey said bowlers of both the teams have really worked hard so far in this series and a lot will depend on how the two attacks recover. India used a four-bowler attack in both the Adelaide and Perth Tests. He said that India missed R Ashwin in Perth while Nathan Lyon bowled his side to victory, but also added that the four-pacer strategy was not totally wrong given the state of the pitch ahead of the game. Instead, he credited Australia for making good use of best batting conditions on day one.
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The veteran cricketer said, “Looking at the conditions, you cannot really say anything against it (four pacers). I just think it was a good toss to win and in the first innings, on day one, the pitch played at its best and enabled Australia to get a decent first innings score. Then, we saw that the score came down as the match went on. So it was not necessarily what India did wrong. India certainly missed Ashwin (as the game went on) and this is something for them to look into.”
Hussey, who played 79 Tests between 2005 and 2013 with 6235 runs under his belt, also said that Indian batting was imbalanced with too many tail-enders, and the poor form of their openers was exploited by the Australian bowler. He said that if the Indian openers’ poor form continued, then Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane need to take on more responsibility to balance the reliance on Virat Kohli.
When asked if India were relying too much on the performance of Kohli, Hussey said, “Kohli is the best player in the world, so India does rely on him and that is not wrong. For India, Pujara was outstanding in Adelaide, and Rahane is looking good in patches. You always rely on your best batsmen, but in this second Test, with that extra fast bowler the Indian tail was too long and it upset the batting balance.”
