Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg has once again thrown his hat in the mud of picking a current best XI, however; this time he has preferred picking a Test XI. The former cricketer, who enjoys good popularity on social media, rang a few surprises with his picks. Notably, Hogg snubbed India skipper Virat Kohli in favour of Pakistan’s Babar Azam.
The newly-appointed limited-overs Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has had a meteoric rise in the last few years. He is the only batsman to be in the top five of ICC Rankings across formats and has often drawn comparisons with India’s Kohli. Brad Hogg, while picking current Test XI, threw another thought in the debate.
Brad Hogg picks Test XI; no Virat Kohli
The former Aussie cricketer went with the Indian duo of Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal as the openers followed by the Aussie duo of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. Both of them have done exceedingly well for Australia last year scoring tons and tons of runs. For the No. 5 spot in Brad Hogg’s Test XI, the spinners preferred Babar Azam ahead of Kohli followed by Ajinkya Rahan.
Explaining the rationale behind his decision, Brad Hogg said that he seemed unimpressed with Kohli’s Test records. He also added the right-handed batsman hasn’t crossed 30 more than four times during his last 15 Test innings.
“Everyone will ask why is Virat Kohli not in this team?” Hogg said. “But if you look at his last 15 Test innings, only four times he has gone over 31 [runs]. That’s why Virat Kohli is not my Test team this year”, the 49-year-old added.
Meanwhile, Brad Hogg once again surprised one and all picking Quinton de Kock as the wicket-keeper and skipper of the side. While there are better captains in the XI, the Proteas cricketer is nowhere close to being the best gloveman in the longest format. Mohammed Shami, Pat Cummins, and Niel Wagner completed the pace suit while Nathan Lyon is the only spinner to complete Brad Hogg’s Test XI.
Brad Hogg’s current Test XI:
Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Babar Azam, Ajinkya Rahane, Quinton De Kock (C/WK), Pat Cummins, Mohammed Shami, Neil Wagner, Nathon Lyon.
