Sydney, Jan 5: Michael Hussey looked in sublime touch as he scored a chanceless 150* at the Sydney Cricket Ground to help Australia set India a huge target on Day 3 of the ongoing Test. The batsman, who had a lean patch before the series began, scored a crucial 89 in the hosts’ second innings at the MCG and then made his presence felt with a remarkable innings here in Sydney.

Excerpts from his interview with the TV broadcasters at stumps on Day 3:

On his incredible day with the bat

It was a great day and great to watch [Michael] Clarke as well. What an innings! I’m pretty honoured and privileged to have been out there for a fair bit of it.

On discussions with Clarke out in the middle during their big partnership

Just about [how we should] keep going, actually. He is a very determined character and he really wanted to [score as much as possible], he just kept going every run. It was very good batting conditions out there and the bowlers were going on for a long time; you can tell they were getting tired. There’s been a lot of bad days so you’ve got to make sure you cash in when there is a good day.

On whether he was prepared for the declaration which came as a surprise to most

It came pretty quickly. We didn’t really discuss it even at lunchtime. We continued to be positive, continued as long as we could. With about five or ten minutes to go before the drinks break [in the second session], that’s when [Clarke] started thinking about it. It was a bit of a surprise to me as well. He said to me one over before the drinks break, ‘Can you get the four runs you need for 150 in this over, please, so I can declare at drinks?’ So it was a bit of a surprise for us as well.

On whether he had to work on his batting to overcome the slump he was in before this series

Not really. For me it’s about sticking to what I know does work. You stick to those things, the basics long enough [...] and you’ve just got to believe there is a good score around the corner. We have had some difficult pitches to play where it’s been conducive to swing and seam bowling. Unfortunately, I have been knocked out in those conditions but we have had some really good batting conditions here so it was good to go on and get a big score.