Hussey: It was just about making sure we built a partnership

It is never easy to come into a tournament towards the business end as a replacement and get going straight away, especially if the outgoing player in question is Brendon McCullum. Perhaps that is why Michael Hussey is Mr. Cricket. It took him all of two games to get his touch back before cracking a crucial 56 off 46 in the second qualifier against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to propel Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to their sixth Indian Premier League (IPL) final in eight seasons.

A target of 140 was always going to be tricky to chase especially on a slow pitch like the one at Ranchi. But 39-year old, Hussey showed great restraint and brought out his sharp cricketing acumen to help the Super Kings pip the Royal Challengers. "It was difficult out in the middle," Hussey told iplt20.com. "MS (Dhoni) and I were telling each other, 'We are finding it difficult and it is going to be twice as difficult for the new batsman coming in. So we should just try to stay in and take it as deep as we can'. Unfortunately we both didn't make it till the end, but we took it pretty close."

Despite losing Dwayne Smith early in the chase, Hussey along with Faf du Plessis, kept the scoreboard ticking. Once du Plessis and Raina fell in quick succession, Hussey took control of the chase with calculated risks against leggie Yuzuvendra Chahal before falling in the 17th over by which time CSK had reached a position of relative comfort. The hallmark of Hussey's partnership with Dhoni was their ability to pinch the quick ones and twos.

"It was just about making sure we built a partnership and try to be really busy as it was a difficult wicket to hit on," Hussey said. "We had to run really hard between the wickets, constantly look for ones and twos and get the odd boundary away. It wasn't a big total to chase, so we knew if we just kept the positive intent going and take it close, a couple of big ones in the end would get us home."

The 39-year old's contribution in the game went beyond the 56 runs he scored for the team. At a crucial juncture of the first innings, Hussey defied age to complete a fabulous diving catch to send back