Brad Hogg picks current best Test XI; axes Virat Kohli with a proper reason

The debate between batsmanship as far as Asian batsmen are concerned has been heightened in the past few months, with Babar Azam taking giant strides. The newly-appointed Pakistan ODI skipper has already impressed everyone with his batting talent. However, he has been compared with his Indian counterpart, every now and then.

On Saturday, former Australian spinner Brad Hogg threw another thought into the Virat Kohli versus Babar Azam debate. This happened when the ex-Aussie decided not to include the Indian skipper in his current Test XI.

Strange captaincy choice by Brad Hogg; why Babar Azam above Virat Kohli?

Talking about his reasons for including Babar in his line-up, the Australian pointed out an inning by the batsman. He explained that a Test hundred which the batsman scored a few months before in Brisbane was very good. Recalling that knock, Hogg said that overseas batsmen generally find difficult to bat in Brisbane but the Pakistan batsman overcame that.

“The reason why I have included Babar Azam in the lineup is that he scored a hundred against Australia in Brisbane when Pakistan toured Australia last year,” said Hogg. “It’s very hard for overseas teams to perform on that particular wicket but he showed that he could and that is why he is one of the best players going around,” he added in a video on his official YouTube channel.

The former spinner also explained why he didn’t include the Indian skipper. He went on to state that the right-handed batsman hasn’t crossed 30 more than four times during his last 15 Test innings and he seemed unimpressed with Kohli’s recent Test record.

“Everyone will ask why is Virat Kohli not in this team?” he 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 said.

The left-arm spinner picked up three other Indian batsmen in the side. He selected Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma as his openers. Both the batsmen had really good 2019 with the bat. He also chose Ajinkya Rahane in his line-up. The Mumbai batsman has been in some great form ever since the start of the ICC Test Championship. The Australian also picked Mohammed Shami as one of his pacers.

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.