Brad Hogg names Kane Williamson as skipper of his best IPL 2020 XI

Going into the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg has named his best eleven of the tournament. To start with, the veteran picked Rohit Sharma and David Warner as the openers. The latter, among the foreign players, is the leading run-scorer and has also won the Orange Cap quite a few times in his IPL career thus far.

Rohit is the most successful skipper in the IPL, winning the title as many as four times. However, instead of picking him as the captain, Hogg zeroed in on Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Kane Williamson. The New Zealander was SRH’s skipper back in 2018 when Warner was serving the one-year suspension due to the ball-tampering scandal. Kane didn’t flatter to deceive by any means.

Not only did he guide the Sunrisers to the final, but also became one of the leading run-scorers in the event. In Hogg’s lineup, Williamson was slotted at number four with Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Virat Kohli at three. The RCB captain is the all-time highest run-getter in the IPL to go with five tons. Rishabh Pant was Hogg’s choice as the specialist wicketkeeper.

No MS Dhoni in the eleven

Hogg picking Pant meant that MS Dhoni didn’t feature in the eleven and it could raise a few eyebrows. Dhoni has won the IPL three times, having taken Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to the playoffs every other time. Andre Russell and Ravindra Jadeja were Hogg’s picks as the specialist all-rounders. It’s to be noted that Dre-Russ was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the 2019 IPL.

Sunil Narine generally opens for the Knights, but Hogg placed him in the lower middle-order in his eleven. The Trinidadian will have Yuzvendra Chahal and Jadeja for company in the spin-department. As his fast bowlers, Hogg went for Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Bumrah is known for his fiery yorkers and can also churn out deceptive slower deliveries. Bhuvneshwar, on the other hand, is one of the leading wicket-takers in the IPL with 133 scalps. The pacer also has won the Purple Cap few times.

Here’s Brad Hogg’s XI

David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson (C), Rishabh Pant (wk), Andre Russell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sunil Narine, Yuzvendra Chahal, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah