Mike Hussey picks out senior India duo as key for WTC Final success
Hussey was well-renowned as one of Australia's best batters in all conditions and thinks Kohli and Rohit must use their vast experience of batting in England to their advantage if India are to prevail against his former side.
The former Australia left-hander - who was among the coaching setup that helped England to last year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title and is currently employed as batting coach of the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL - had no hesitation in nominating the veteran duo as the key players for India at the one-off Test that commences at The Oval on June 7.
"It’s hard to see past Virat Kohli," Hussey remarked.
"He (Kohli) is obviously coming back into some great form again in all forms of the game really, so both he and Rohit Sharma with the bat are going to be important for India."
India recently regained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with an emphatic 2-1 victory over Australia in the four-match Test series on home soil, but Hussey knows conditions will be vastly different in London with fast bowling expected to be of more importance than the spin friendly tracks both sides faced on the sub-continent.
Hussey thinks India's quicks can make a difference at The Oval, but knows Australia's plethora of quality pacers - that includes skipper Pat Cummins and experienced left-armer Mitchell Starc - will prove difficult to handle.
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"It is going to be played in England, so English conditions will be different to the recent series in India, so I think the fast bowlers are going to be important," Hussey noted.
"Pat Cummins (is a key for Australia) and Josh Hazlewood might be fit again which would be nice for Australia.
"But India have got so many great bowlers as well. You’ve got (Mohammed) Siraj and (Mohammed) Shami and obviously the spinners with (Ravindra) Jadeja and (Ravichandran) Ashwin as well.
"It’s a world-class attack and the Aussies are going to have to be at their best to beat them."
And pressed for which team he thinks will prevail and hold aloft the highly-coveted World Test Championship mace, a diplomatic Hussey said he was hoping for a good even contest between the two quality sides.
"I just want to see two great teams go head-to-head and see who comes out on top," Hussey said.
"We just want to see good, hard, fair cricket and whoever comes out on top deserves to. And it should be a fantastic match."
