Australia vs India 2018-19: Michael Hussey Hails India's Aggressive Attitude Following Their Historic Series Win

Former Australian cricketer Michael Hussey has shared high praise for Indian National Cricket team as they scripted history in the Australian soil. Virat Kohli & Co won the four-match Border-Gavaskar Test series 2-1, their first ever win Down Under.

However, India bounced back at Melbourne to take an unassailable lead of 2-1 in the Border Gavaskar series. Although they dominated the proceeding in the Sydney, rain prevented them from winning another Test. Electing to bat first, India rode on to big centuries from Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant to post 622 for seven before declaring.

The bowlers, who have done an outstanding job so far, once again produced a brilliant effort to back their batsmen. Kuldeep Yadav, who missed the first three Test in Australia, took five wickets to rattle the hosts for 300. Skipper Virat Kohli did enforce a follow-on but the umpires had to call off the play due to bad light, and it didn’t resume thereafter.

And Michael Hussey feels more than anything else; it is down to the mentality of the players that mattered this time around.

“I think it’s been their mentality. I’ve seen a lot of teams come to Australia shores and hope they play well. But India have come here and they were expected to play well in these conditions. Yes, Australia is in a bit of turmoil and transition with a few players out of the team.

“But they have come here with an attitude of confidence, they want to be aggressive, they wanted to take the game on and that’s under Virat Kohli’s leadership which I think has been superb throughout the series. They played in a great spirit but they have played real confident cricket. It’s not easy for a sub-continental team to come to Australia, adapt to the conditions and play so well. You can just tell how much it meant to them,” Hussey said on air after the match.

Hussey hails Cheteshwar Pujara

Michael Hussey also made a special mention of Cheteshwar Pujara, who impressed with his stellar show with the bat. Pujara returned as the highest scorer in the series across the series with 521 runs including three centuries.

“If I have to pick on player I’d say Pujara. The way he batted throughout this series was just incredible. He batted so much time and he’s such an important player in that Indian team because everyone else all the attacking players can bat around him.

“He was just a rock throughout this series. But credit must also go to Bumrah. I thought he was absolutely superb throughout this series too,” Hussey concluded.