da supremo： Nasser Hussain conducts himself well when he speaks to the press
Anand Vasu02-Dec-2001Nasser Hussain conducts himself well when he speaks to the press. TheEssex and England skipper listens to questions patiently and answersthem with care. Taking his time, the Madras-born leader of the Englandteam looked forward to the forthcoming series against India. The hourof reckoning is here and Hussain’s England know it. Excerpts:On leading England in a Test against India in the country where hewas born:No different from playing anywhere else really. I’m very proud everytime I play a Test match, every time I play for England. Obviously Ihave some special feelings playing here. Ever since we arrived, peoplehave been very friendly to me. I’ve loved every minute of the tour sofar, on and off the field. But this is not about me anymore. It isabout England and the England cricket team and how we’ve got to besuccessful in India starting tomorrow.On leading an inexperienced side:This has got both its plusses and minuses. Tomorrow, I’ll be handingout a few debut caps. It’s a young side but one that is a pleasure tolead. We are playing, without doubt, the best side at home that youcould play. India at home, with all their experience, on these kind ofpitches, with crowds behind them are the best side, as Australia foundout. Make no mistake about it. Whatever happened at South Africa isdifferent. We have to be at our best to beat India.On playing in the Indian subcontinent:The grounds are all very different from each other. The basic thinghowever, in the subcontinent, is discipline. In England you can run upand land four balls in the right area and let the wickets do the rest.In these parts you have to be disciplined and bowl to a plan. Youcan’t bowl both sides of the wicket.On the fact that Mohali could be England’s best chance:I wouldn’t like to look at Mohali as a place where we have a specialchance. The Indians too have their own strengths on wickets like this.One thing I must say though is that the ground, the facilities andthat kind of thing here puts a lot of other places to shame. Thewickets, the outfield, the nets, the bowling machine, the net bowlers…everything has been perfect. We have no excuses going into tomorrow.On the added responsibility on players to play the game in theright spirit:There’s responsibility on the players of both sides to play the gameas it has been done for many a year now. When I was young, I watchedpeople playing cricket really hard. I expect us to do exactly thesame, playing hard but fair, in the next three weeks.On whether the recent uncertainty has hampered preparations:We’ve always presumed the series would go on undisturbed. We’ve hadthree very good warm-up matches. We’ve come up against some fineplayers this series already, there was Kambli at Mumbai. And we had areally good game against India `A’ where the game could have goneeither way on all three days. We’ve just been focusing on the cricket.Personally, I’ve believed all along that there us no way that thecricket would not go on in this part of the world.