'He is human' - Michael Hussey after Steve Smith bags a duck in the MCG Test against India

After a horrendous outing in the Adelaide Test against Australia, the Indian bowling unit gave a much-needed boost to the visitors by providing them with a fierce start on the Day 1 of the ongoing highly-anticipated Boxing Day Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Jasprit Bumrah and Ravichandran Ashwin were the architects behind India taking a slight edge in the second Test.

One of the biggest achievements of the visiting team was sending the number one ranked batsman in ICC Men’s Test Rankings, Steve Smith, back to the pavilion for a duck. Smith has lethal records against India in the purest format of the game but he failed to replicate his past performances as Ashwin got the better of him with a classic off-spinner in the 15th over.

Former Australian batsman Michael Hussey was impressed with India’s tactics of keeping Smith silent in the series till now and showered praises on them for bowling to Smith at the stumps, placing a leg-side field. However, Hussey backed Smith saying that he is a human and can make mistakes.

Hussey opines on Steve Smith’s dismissal against India

Speaking to Fox Sports, Hussey said, ”There’s definitely been a shift from this Indian team. In the past, because Steve Smith walks across the crease so much, teams have bowled wide to him, and with that, they set a more off-side field and hope he’s going to hit the ball through there. But I think this Indian team have gone the other way.”

“They know his strength is off the pads, so they’ve put fielders there to block up the runs but then bowled straight at the stumps, so he just has to miss one or edge one – he is human and can get something wrong – and unfortunately it has worked,” the veteran batsman added.

Further, Hussey stated that targeting the stumps for the number four batsman is a good tactic as there are high chances of him getting LBW or getting him caught on the leg side.

”I think it is a good tactic because if he is taking all of his weight across the crease, sometimes you can fall over a little bit too much and means you’re prone to LBW or your head isn’t in line with the ball, and you can flick one on the leg side,” Hussey concluded.