The two T20 internationals between the Proteas and Australia over the weekend gave a glimpse of what can be expected from this year’s IPL to be held in South Africa. And on the evidence of Cape Town and Johannesburg, it seems that the Deccan Chargers’ gain will be the Kolkata Knight Riders’ loss.

Following Andrew Symonds’ misdemeanours in the last nine months, the player who has benefited most from the vacancy for the batting allrounder in the limited overs format has been David Hussey. As such, the younger Hussey has since cemented a middle order position in the Australian ODI team, at least until Symonds is deemed to have been rehabilitated.

Last year, Hussey played out a full campaign, but this year, barring anomalous behaviour by the Australian selectors, he will miss at least the first nine matches, due to Australia’s ODI series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi.

In the past year, he has become even more destructive in the abbreviated format. In the Australian T20 campaign this year, Hussey plundered 171 runs in four matches and was out only once, the highlight being an unbeaten 100 against Tasmania from only 47 overs. In five T20 internationals since then he has amassed 177 runs at 44.25, including a big-hitting 88* from 44 balls against South Africa at the Wanderers on Friday. Not only that, he counter-attacked despite the loss of two quick wickets, refusing to yield the momentum to his opponents. Hussey would have been invaluable in stabilising a Kolkata middle-order that will field Indian players who have never played outside the subcontinent.

Aside from his batting, he has also become more of a regular with his off spin, sending down at least three overs in each of his last nine matches. At international level this season, he has taken six wickets at 18.66, conceding less than seven runs per over, a performance comparable to any frontline spinner.

Were I more conspiratorially minded and cynical, I could claim that the reason for Ricky Ponting’s persistent advocacy of Symonds’ place in the Australian team would be to keep Hussey on full-time IPL duty, thereby strengthening Kolkata at the expense of the Hyderabad outfit, in order to land himself some kind of under-the-table kickbacks from Shahrukh Khan and co.

That’s wishful thinking of course, but if Kolkata are still in finals contention when Hussey returns for the latter part of the tournament, then they will surely be a threat. Having said that, with all the upheavals regarding the multiple captains, they would be lucky to still be in the hunt. Meanwhile, Symonds will be enjoying a full season in South Africa, the site of his career-defining campaign at the 2003 World Cup. Deccan will be hoping that he turns back the clock to the halcyon days.
Source – blogs.livemint.com