The Indian cricket captain, Virat Kohli is currently the best batsman in the world. He is one of the most preferred cricketers, who could walk into a world XI in any format of the game with the current slot of cricketers. However, it comes as a very big surprise when one can’t find his name in the playing XI at any time.
Recently, former Australia left-arm wrist-spinner Brad Hogg picked his World XI and didn’t pick Virat Kohli in his team. Bradd Hogg also explained why he didn’t pick the Indian skipper Virat Kohli in his playing XI. He claimed that looking at the last 15 performances of Virat Kohli, he decided not to pick Virat Kohli in his team. He revealed:
“Everyone will ask why is Virat Kohli not in this team?”
He added:
“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,”
Furthermore, Hogg also explained why he picked India’s deputy player Rohit Sharma in his playing XI. He said:
“Rohit Sharma’s a bit lucky to find a place in this XI. He’s averaged over 90 but has played Test cricket only in India. But I love the way that he’s so relaxed, just pushes the ball through the off side and also works the ball off his legs”
Talking about why he picked Babar Azam as his no.5 cricketer in his playing XI, he said:
“He’s made four hundreds but the reason why I have included Babar Azam in the lineup is because he scored a hundred against Australia in Brisbane, when Pakistan toured Australia last year,”
He added:
“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,”
For the post of the skipper, Brad Hogg decided to go with South Africa’s Quinton de Kock as his wicket-keeper and skipper. For the position of seamers, Hogg picked three seamers including Australia’s Pat Cummins, India’s Mohammed Shami, and New Zealand’s Neil Wagner. Hogg picked Australia’s Nathan Lyon as the only spinner in his team.
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, Mohammad Sham, Neil Wagner, Nathon Lyon.
