Hussey wants Pandya to play at MCG
MELBOURNE: Former Australia batsman Michael Hussey on Friday said conditions for the third Test in Melbourne will be a lot different from those in Perth and India should consider drafting in allrounder Hardik Pandya to bring balance to their attack.
The third Test begins in Melbourne on December 26 and the MCG pitch has come under sharp focus after it hosted a drab draw against England during last year’s Ashes and the ground received a warning from the ICC.
“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 allrounder) is something for both sides to look at,” Hussey said.
Hussey said bowlers of both sides have really worked hard so far in this series and a lot will depend on how the two attacks recover. India used a fourbowler attack in both the Adelaide and Perth Tests. While they won the first Test by 31 runs with a well-balanced bowling unit, including a spinner, the fourpacer plan backfired in Perth as Australia levelled the series with a 146-run win.
Hussey said that India missed Ravichandran 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 pre-match. Instead, he credited Australia for making good use of best batting conditions on day one. “Looking at the conditions, you cannot really say anything against it (four pacers). At the start, you just thought there was plenty in it for the pacers and there were lots of cracks. 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. It was just good quality Test cricket in difficult conditions. India certainly missed Ashwin (as the game went on) and this is something for them to look into,” Hussey said.