"Great that selectors have dropped Rahane, Ishant"- Brad Hogg on India's Test squad ahead of England tour
Former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg believes the Indian selectors did the right thing by making the tough decision to drop out-of-form veterans Ajinkya Rahane and Ishant Sharma from their Test squad travelling to England.
India are set to play a one-off Test from July 1 against England and have some fresh faces in their line-up like Shreyas Iyer and Prasidh Krishna. The 51-year-old highlighted the importance of a smooth transition to the Indian Test team.
Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, Brad Hogg explained why it was necessary for India to judge players on merit rather than reputation. He said:
"I think it's great that the selectors have dropped Rahane and Ishant Sharma from the Test team. They have been aging and haven't been performing of late. You need to get the youth in and rotate them so that they get experience alongside those who are already experienced."
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Iyer is going to spend a number of years batting alongside Kohli: Brad Hogg
Brad Hogg believes the likes of Iyer and Krishna will benefit straightaway by spending crucial time developing their game with other experienced Indian players. While Iyer has Kohli to work with, Krishna will have Shami and Bumrah to learn new skills from, and that could prove to be the perfect recipe for a successful Indian team in the future.
On this, he stated:
"Iyer is going to spend a number of years batting alongside Kohli, learning the game for the longer form and being able to develop a game plan where he is going to succeed. And then you've got Krishna, who will be coming up alongside Bumrah and Shami. So that is a good policy to rotate the players."
Brad Hogg also wants India to go all-out with a four-pronged pace attack along with Ravindra Jadeja as the all-round option. On this, he added:
"With this Indian team going to England, bowling will be their strength. They will have Bumrah and Shami in the XI, but I would like to see Krishna too with his extra height and Siraj with his pace and a bit of movement. The only reason I have got Jadeja there is his batting depth."
It will be interesting to see what combination Rohit Sharma goes in with as the visitors need to avoid defeat in that one-off Test to win the series that is a continuation of the five-match series from last year that was stopped after a COVID scare.