Hussey's magnificent knock was studded with two sixes and 11 fours as Chennai Super Kings surged towards a formidable score against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Wriddhiman Saha hit a 23-ball 39 before Rajat Bhatia had him caught by Eoin Morgan at deep mid-wicket in the 11th over.
Hussey smashed a 31-ball half-century as he and Saha brought up Chennai Super Kings' 100 in the tenth over.
Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir's decision to bowl first seemed to have backfired as Hussey and Saha brought up Chennai's fifty in the sixth over.
Kolkata have brought in Brendon McCullum and Shami Ahmed in place of Sachithra Senanayake and Sarabjit Ladda.
Wriddhiman Saha replaces Murali Vijay in the Chennai line-up and Dirk Nannes also comes in place of Jason Holder.
CSK had beaten KKR in Kolkata not to long back, and Gautam Gambhir's men would look to return the compliment in the return leg match.
A stern bowling test awaits the Knight Riders as the Super Kings' batsmen led by Michael Hussey look in ominous touch.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni too looks in great finishing touch, as he guided his side through with a blazing 67 off just 37 balls in the last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Though West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has picked 14 wickets for the CSK in the competition but he has been struggling with the bat.
KKR bowlers, led by Sunil Narine, will look to expose chinks in the CSK's armour and bolster the visiting side's chances of finishing in top four.
The KKR side will look to keep up their good batting effort in order to pose a strong challenge at the Chepauk.
KKR will once bank their opening to give them a flourishing start, followed by solidity from veteran South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis.
And with Eoin Morgan proving destructive in the latter half of the innings, KKR would be aware that they have the firepower to humble the Super Kings.
Yusuf Pathan's poor form has been a big worry for the defending champions as the swashbuckling batsman has been flop in the tournament so far. In eight matches, he has just 105 runs against his name.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (Capt.), Wriddhiman Saha, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, Subramaniam Badrinath, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Chris Morris, Ravichandran Ashwin, Dirk Nannes, Mohit Sharma.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (Capt.), Manvinder Bisla, Brendon McCullum, Yusuf Pathan, Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan, Debabrata Das, Rajat Bhatia, Sunil Narine, Shami Ahmed, Lakshmipathy Balaji.
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