Harsha Bhogle picks his ODI team of the year

Ace cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle recently won hearts with his sensitive social media piece on the prevailing tensions in India over the National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Act. The 58-year-old appealed against the growing negativity and his post received applause from various quarters. Bhogle was soon seen back to the work he does the best- analyzing cricket.

Now, Bhogle took to pick his best one-day international team for the outgoing year and it was quite a task for Bhogle believed no other format produced “more staggering performances” than the 50-over format. Speaking on CricBuzz’s official YouTube channel, Bhogle said the fact that the performance in the ODIs in 2019 received a boost all the more because it was the year of the ICC World Cup which witnessed an ultimate climax.

Bhogle picked India opener Rohit Sharma and England’s Jason Roy — both of whom have had a great year — as his XI’s opening partners. While Rohit hit seven hundreds in ODIs in the year, Roy had a strike rate of almost 120. The No.3 pick was an easy thing to do as Bhogle settled for India captain Virat Kohli who scored almost 1,300 runs in 24 innings in the year at an average of 58.72.

At No.4 came in Pakistan T20I captain Babar Azam who, according to Bhogle, had a “break out year” in 2019. Babar averaged above 60 with three hundreds this year. For No.5 and No.6 slots, Bhogle settled for two players who really made it big this year — Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and England all-rounder Ben Stokes. Though Shakib, Bangladesh’s Test and T20I captain is currently serving a ban, Bhogle did not feel it would be a hindrance to pick him.

Harsha Bhogle picks Jos Buttler as his XI’s wicketkeeper

For the wicket-keeping position, Bhogle went for England’s dashing keeper-batsman Jos Buttler who had a staggering strike rate of 135-plus this year. He preferred Buttler ahead of Australia’s Alex Carey.

In the bowling department, Bhogle chose one left-arm pacer in Mitchell Starc besides England’s fearsome pacer Jofra Archer and India’s seamer for all-weather — Jasprit Bumrah. This year has really been a great one for the pacers. As the only spinner, Bhogle picked Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav. The picking was done on the basis of records as of December 18, 2019.

Harsha Bhogle’s ODI Team of the year:

Rohit Sharma, Jason Roy, Virat Kohli, Babar Azam, Shakib Al Hasan, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Mitchell Starc, Jofra Archer, Jasprit Bumrah, and Kuldeep Yadav

He also picked an alternate ODI team of the year:

Aaron Finch, Shai Hope, Kane Williamson, Faf du Plessis, Eoin Morgan, James Neesham, Andile Phehlulwayo, Pat Cummins, Trent Boult, Shaheen Afridi, and Yuzvendra Chahal.

Watch the video here: