Brad Hogg, former Australian left-arm unorthodox spinner believes Rohit Sharma is better off at batting in the middle-order for Team India in the third Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
The 49-year-old spinner feels the classy Indian batsman must replace an out-of-form Hanuma Vihari in the visitors’ batting line-up.
Brad Hogg: Rohit Sharma Should Bat Down The Order And Replace Hanuma Vihari
Rohit Sharma’s Test averages reveal the story of his struggles in foreign conditions. His average falls drastically from 88.33 at home in 20 Tests to just 26.32 away in 33 Tests so he will look to make amends. The 33-year-old had an amazing start to life as a Test opener.
However, in a video on Brad Hogg’s YouTube channel, the Australian explained why Rohit Sharma should bat in the middle-order, despite his herculean numbers as a Test opener of late.
“Agarwal, I think, is safe. The reason being is because Rohit Sharma has got that issue in Australia where there is a little bit of extra bounce and movement away, he plays away from his body and he is just going to feed those slips early on in his innings with the new ball,” Brad Hogg asserted.
“So for me, I would bat him (Rohit Sharma) down the order here in Australia and hopefully the top order have worn the Australian bowlers out and he can come out and play with absolute freedom. So Vihari for me, he is out of the door,” he further added.
Rohit Sharma has played his last Test a day-night affair at Kolkata against Bangladesh in November 2019 has been opening lately and has averaged 92.67 as opener amassing 556 runs with 3 tons in 6 innings and 5 Tests against South Africa(3) and Bangladesh(2).
Brad Hogg Picks Navdeep Saini To Replace Umesh Yadav For Extra Pace
While Rohit Sharma will be a welcome addition to India’s batting line-up for the third Test as India doesn’t have services of homebound Virat Kohli and injured KL Rahul, the bowling department will require a forced change.
Fast bowler Umesh Yadav has been ruled out of the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as he pulled his calf muscle during the Boxing Day Test which means either of Navdeep Saini or T Natarajan is likely to make their Test debut at the SCG while Shardul Thakur may play his 2nd Test after suffering an injury in debut Test where he couldn’t bowl more than 10 balls in October 2018 against West Indies.
Brad Hogg backs Navdeep Saini to make his Test debut in Sydney as the 49-year-old believes his extra pace can be used by India to torment Australia’s main batsmen Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. Knowing Steve Smith’s weakness against the short-ball ploy, Brad Hogg reckons Navdeep Saini would be a fantastic addition to the visitors’ pace bowling attack aiding Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah although experts are divided on their opinions.
“Now the way that Siraj bowled in his first Test match, he showed that he can bowl a good line and length, I would go with Saini with the extra pace. Then you got someone, with five bowlers in your line-up, that can change up with some short-pitched bowling at the likes of Labuschagne and Steve Smith, who have been troubled with the short ball,” Brad Hogg asserted.
Since Team India had announced their respective playing XIs for the first two Tests a day before the games began, they are likely to announce their XI for the SCG Test on Wednesday.