With no cricket taking place due to the COVID-19 picking best 11 players of a team has become a big trend. Brad Hogg who’s lately become very active on YouTube picked his current best ODI team. The former Australian spinner picked as many as 5 Indians in his ODI side. There were a few surprises picks and some obvious ones in Hogg’s side.
He started an India-Australia opening partnership of Rohit Sharma and David Warner. Both have a reputation of scoring big runs in ODI cricket and are two of the leading batsman in the world today. Number 3 was an obvious choice as Virat Kohli walked into Hogg’s team. The former spinner also named Kohli skipper of his side.
Virat Kohli to lead ODI XI of Brad Hogg
Next, he went in with Pakistan’s young run machine Babar Azam who averages over 53 in ODI cricket. He picked Azam ahead of the likes of Joe Root, Kane Williamson and his countrymen Steve Smith.
At 5 and 6 he went with the world cup winning explosive duo of England Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler. The two destructive batsmen played an integral role in helping England win their maiden world cup title last year. Ravindra Jadeja was his pick to bat at 7 and bowl some crucial overs as well as save crucial runs in the field.
The fast bowlers of Hogg’s side were Mitchell Starc who was for the second consecutive time the leading wicket-taker in the world cup. Lockie Ferguson the New Zealand speedster was the second-highest wicket-taker last year in the world cup. The reliable fast bowler of India Mohammad Shami who has a knack of always picking wickets in ODI cricket. Yuzvendra ChahalYuzvendra Chahal was the lone specialist spinner in the side who also is a wicket-taker in the middle overs.
Hogg talked about the batsmen and bowlers that narrowly missed out, “The two unlucky batsmen are Aaron Finch, who had a wonderful year in 2019 but his conversion rate wasn’t as good as everyone else in that top four. And the other one was Kane WilliamsonKane Williamson, nearly got in front of Virat Kohli, because he had a better average but it was only a lower strike rate that kept him out of the side.”“
I could have chosen Trent Boult and Pat Cummins, who are a lot more economical than the bowlers who I have chosen, but they don’t have strong strike rates”.
Current best ODI XI of Brad Hogg:
Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Virat Kohli (C), Babar Azam, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Starc, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami and Yuzvendra Chahal.
