David Hussey speaks before clash against Chargers

Hussey focusses on job in hand
There was a noticeable difference in the way Kolkata and Hyderabad approached the press meet on the eve of their Eden clash.

By Kashinath Bhattacharjee

At noon on Wednesday, Adam Gilchrist was sending his best wishes for Shoaib Malik and Sania Mirza for their new innings to start in April.

In the evening, did somebody say ‘last question' even before the first? It seemed so. The hurry to finish the press-meet was surprising. Dav Whatmore, the coach of Kolkata and their Australian recruit David Hussey were at the dias. And the press-meet lasted less than seven minutes. If only the Kolkata fielders could have shown these hurry on the field!

However, even in those seven minutes, the tension in the air was clearly visible. Dav, a World Cup winning coach, tried to be as cool as he could. Hussey, the Aussie, tried his best to convey the best message from the team camp. But, they were tensed. And that could not be covered.

Otherwise, why an experienced Aussie will utter thrice "We have to beat Hyderabad" in reply to four different questions? In fact, when it was enquired of him, how happy he were to be in the Australian T20 world cup team, he finished with the above-mentioned line. If this is not a clear indication of being under pressure, what is?

"Obviously I am very happy to be selected in the Australian World T20 team. I am looking forward to be in the Caribbeans. But before that, I have a job in hand and that is to win as many matches as possible for Kolkata, the first of which is obviously on Thursday", said Hussey.

The ICC World T20 will start just after the Indian T20 league. Is not it a bit taxing?

For Hussey, it is not. "I love to play cricket. I enjoy it playing daily. So, I have no problems, really."

What he is looking forward to is to emulate the Aussie cricketers' performances in the ongoing T20 league.

"Yeah, they are playing very well. I, too, want to do the same, perform at my level best and help my team to win more matches in the tournament. And our opponent on Thursday, Hyderabad, is a talented side. We have to be at our best to beat them."

But there are only seven matches left in the group phase for Kolkata.

To ensure a semifinal berth, how many matches they need to win among those seven?

Whatmore picked his hand to show all the five fingers. "Five more. That is the target now."

Incidentally, Kolkata will be playing five ‘home' matches in the second part and if they can win all their home matches, they could find themselves among the first four teams, a cherished dream at this point of time. More so, because of the team owner's tweet on Tuesday night where he had written, "time for excuses is over.

"Either we play better or keep being deserving losers. I am disappointed and will try and sleep this disappoinment off. Hope the team introspects and comes back strong. Professionals can do that."

Whatmore, however, did not see it. "I do not follow twitter. I have never seen it, so there is no question of knowing what he had written."

But why the first XI is always changed? In none of the 7 matches, the ‘same' team played for Kolkata.

Whatmore was not surprised though. "We pick up the first XI keeping in mind the conditions and the opponents. So, there was nothing in between. We just wanted to have the best xi for each game according to the requirements."

Is captain Sourav Ganguly's form, as a batsman, is a concern for the coach?

"But he is amongst runs. Just the other day, he had a wonderful fifty and we had won the match. In the last match only, he did not score that many. But yes, we are keen to have a good start and keep going.

It was a good win in Mohali, but the last match was again a setback for us. We have to be positive, as positive as we can and go ahead with our planning for the next game."

Ajantha Mendis is yet to get a match in this edition. Whatmore said, "Ajantha will be considered (for Thursday's match), definitely."

Chasing can be tricky, especially when losing wickets, opined the coach. The stress was on execution. But, one wonders, whether that was a great secret!