Brad Hogg picks his India playing XI for T20 World Cup

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Former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has named his preferred playing XI for India in the upcoming T20 World Cup slated to be played in UAE later this year. Hogg feels that despite Shikhar Dhawan’s stupendous record in ICC tournaments, he will prefer Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the top of the order. 

"My Indian team going into the T20 World Cup would have Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma opening the batting. I might be a bit harsh on Shikhar Dhawan but they need some attacking players in the middle-order and so they need to push Kohli up the order," Hogg said on his YouTube channel.


Team India are currently in Sri Lanka preparing for a 6-match ODI and T20I series with several new faces in the squad. In the absence of some of their first-choice players who are currently in England for the five-match Test series, the onus will be on the experienced campaigners like Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya to lead from the front. 


While Rahul Dravid, India’s coach for the Sri Lanka tour has made it clear that it’s not possible to give opportunities to all the fresh faces but he did accept that one or two spots are up for grabs and could be cemented with impressive performances on this tour. 


"I have Suryakumar Yadav, a youngster to international cricket, at No.3. I think his versatility is going to add a bit of spice to that batting line-up. KL Rahul is the prime runner for the No.4 spot. Coming in at No.5 is Rishabh Pant and I would keep him as a floater. If there is a wicket falling in the seventh over, I would send him up the order at dominate against spin. I would have Hardik Pandya at No.6 and Ravindra Jadeja at No.7,” Hogg quipped while picking the middle and the lower middle order. 


Hogg picked wrists spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal as the two spinners for the showpiece event given the fact that Kuldeep makes his presence felt in the Sri Lanka series. He picked Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar as his pacers. 


"If Kuldeep Yadav does well in Sri Lanka, having a left-arm wrist-spinner could be a point of difference. But at the moment, Chahal is the number one spinner. Someone like a Thakur could get an opportunity due to his explosive batting and he is also good in the powerplay and at the death. Then you got Bhuvi and then Bumrah," Hogg concluded. 

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