India and Australia are Mr Cricket's favourites, but he names an old enemy as a team to watch
Hussey names World T20 dark horse
Champion batsman Mike Hussey rates India and Australia as favourites for the ICC World T20, but believes England could be the tournament's dark horse.
Hussey, who has linked up with Australia as a consultant for the first two weeks of the competition, says England captain Eoin Morgan and coach Trevor Bayliss could be the key for the Three Lions on the subcontinent.
Bayliss has led Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders to two titles before taking over the England top job last year, while Morgan has played for three IPL clubs – Kolkata, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad, where he played under Australia's David Warner in 2015.
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"They (Morgan and Bayliss) are two guys who are going to keep things very calm," Hussey told The Daily Mail UK.
"T20 cricket is high stress, high profile and high-octane and sometimes you can get carried away with that emotion whether things are going really well or poorly.
"You can really ride those huge waves and I think those two guys in the leadership roles will be very calm throughout the whole campaign.
"I definitely think they can win it.
"There’s so much talent and ability in that England squad."
England lost their most recent T20 series against South Africa 2-0 in; the first a final-ball thriller they should have won before they were ambushed by a rampant AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla in the second match at the Wanderers.
But Hussey isn't reading too much into that result, and says Morgan, who he played with at the Sydney Thunder in the KFC Big Bash League in 2014-15, has the leadership qualities and damaging ability with the bat to lead his side to their second World T20 trophy after their 2010 title in the Caribbean.
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"He was fantastic around the dressing-room, really tried to impart his knowledge and experience onto our younger guys, who really were hanging off every word he was saying," Hussey said.
"But then as a player I really loved watching him bat because you just don’t know where he’s going to hit it.
"When he’s on song and firing he can be extremely destructive.
"He’s played some of the best T20 innings I’ve ever seen."
England begin their World T20 campaign against the West Indies in Mumbai on Wednesday.