Fantastic at four

Be it the Lonely Planet-carrying backpacker or the high-profile international cricketers travelling to India, the thumb rule is to...

Be it the Lonely Planet-carrying backpacker or the high-profile international cricketers travelling to India, the thumb rule is to have loads of patience if they are to enjoy the experience. Michael Hussey, who got an international call after scoring 15,000-plus first-class runs, certainly has it in abundance.

The 33-year-old might have spent 8216;limited8217; time on sub-continent tracks but he knows what it takes to pass the big 8216;Test8217;.

And he gave a glimpse of it on the third day of the tourists8217; warm-up game against Board President8217;s XI, looking the only Aussie player all prepared for the Test series. His unbeaten innings of 126 from 302 balls and the 96-run last-wicket stand with Stuart Clark helped the Australians avoid the follow-on.

But his heroics notwithstanding, the Aussie revival was temporary, with the Board President8217;s XI batsmen again exposing the lack of depth in the tourists8217; bowling department. After the new ball bowlers, Clark and Brett Lee, struck early, Mitchell Johnson and spinner Jason Krejza failed to keep up the pressure.

At stumps, Wasim Jaffer was on 46 and Yuvraj Singh gave him company batting on 36 as the duo took the score to 110/2, leaving the Australians 215 runs in arrears.

But the bright spot for the Aussies was the performance of Hussey, who continued the tradition of being a dependable No.4 in India. Despite Australia8217;s inconsistent record in India over the years, the man walking in after the fall of two wickets has always done the repair job. First Mark Waugh and later Damien Martyn had reasons to enjoy their India stint. Though Waugh never finished on the winning side, he still had an average of 43 from seven Tests in India.

Martyn was instrumental in the Aussies overcoming the 8216;final frontier,8217; playing a big role as India were finally beaten at home in 2004. In that series Martyn finished with an average of 55 from four Tests.

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Hussey, who has an average of 68 from 26 Tests, seems to be a worthy replacement at No.4 since, like Waugh and Martyn, he too plays with soft hands and doesn8217;t have pre-determined frontfoot movement playing spin bowling. This was quite evident on Saturday as he took on Piyush Chawla and Pragyan Ojha, who seemed all set to run through the Aussie line-up this morning.

Spin class

Ojha started it all by foxing Brad Haddin with a ball that all left-arm spinners enjoy bowling. Haddin stepped out but was beaten by flight and turn and Parthiv Patel completed the formality by taking off the bails. Chawla too was getting tough to read for the Aussies, who were now tied in the crease. Peter Siddle and Lee were both lbw trying to play from the box, and with the score reading 214/9, the Aussies were in trouble.

Hussey, meanwhile, was the lone man standing as he didn8217;t have a set template in mind to face the spinners. Ojha best explained the way Hussey faced the spinners. 8220;He moved forward or stayed on the backfoot depending on the length of the ball. Hussey has a good idea about playing the spinners,8221; he says. At other end, Clark was getting a ring-side view of the 8216;spin class8217; as he too negotiated the slow bowlers proficiently.

It remains to be seen if the other Aussies, who were back in the hut, were able to learn a few tricks from Hussey on Saturday. In case they didn8217;t, there will always be the opportunity of watching the Board President8217;s XI batsmen from close quarters as they dominate the Aussie spin attack.