Brad Hogg picks his current best Test XI; chooses Babar Azam over Kohli, Pujara misses out

Former Australian cricketer Bradd Hogg has thrown his weight behind Babar Azam in the entire debate of the better batsman between the now Pakistan skipper and India's Virat Kohli. The former Australian made his choice clear by the virtue of the current best Test XI that he picked and cited the Indian skipper's poor form as the reason behind Kohli facing his axe. Surprisingly, Hogg also gave a skip to India's Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara, and other notable names including Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Jasprit Bumrah. 

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'Why is Virat Kohli not in the team?'

The former Australian spinner picked his team in a video that he shared on his YouTube channel and also explained the reason behind picking Azam over Kohli. “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 Australian remarked.

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While explaining his reason to choose Azam, Hogg recollected that the Pakistan batsman had scored a century against Australia in Brisbane last year which is commendable since it is 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. 

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de Kock named skipper

Another surprising pick in Hogg's current best Test XI was Quinton de Kock, whom he named as the skipper of the team. Furthermore, he picked India's Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma as openers and Mohammad Shammi, too, found a place in his team. Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith filled up the number three and number four spot while Ajinkya Rahane took charge of the middle-order. Hogg's bowling attack comprised of Pat Cummins and Neil Wagner while Nathan Lyon was in charge of the spin department. 

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