Brad Hogg Picks '360 Degree Batsman' Suryakumar Yadav Over Shreyas Iyer At No. 4 For The First T20I Against England

Former Australia spinner, Brad Hogg opines that India should give Suryakumar Yadav the nod ahead of Shreyas Iyer to bat at number 4 in the opening T20I against England at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday.

After consistently piling on runs in the domestic circuit and in the IPL for Mumbai Indians, Suryakumar Yadav is given his maiden call-up to the national squad. He faces stiff competition from Shreyas Iyer, who is retained from the squad which toured Australia while Manish Pandey and Sanju Samson are dropped.

While Yadav was in sublime form in the IPL 2020, Iyer fared disappointingly in Australia – he had the highest score of 38 in 5 white-ball matches Down Under. However, both the batsman have been amongst runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Brad Hogg says that he would choose Yadav over the Delhi Capitals skipper because of Suryakumar’s aggressive intent and his wide range of shots; Yadav is one of the few batsmen in the country who can play 360-degree shots.

“Suryakumar Yadav… he’s got to play in there because he’s an aggressive batsman, plays 360 degrees and is hard to bowl to,” Brad Hogg said in a video on his YouTube channel.

Axar Patel has got to play: Brad Hogg

The 50-year-old cricketer-turned-commentator is also big on the inclusion of Axar Patel in the T20 side after his tremendous success in the Test series. Hogg reckons India should play with three spinners in Yuzvendra Chahal, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel alongside pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, and Hardik Pandya could, if allowed, can bowl a few overs.

Hogg has omitted T Natarajan in favour of Deepak Chahar as Bhuvneshwar Kumar returns to the eleven.

“Will India go with Sundar and Chahal? Those two don’t have a taller height like Ashwin or Axar Patel. So will India go with those two particular bowlers or three spinners? I would go with Axar Patel because he’s got the height.”

“The English batsmen previous weren’t prepared to sweep him. So Patel’s got to play. Will they go with three spinners and have Hardik Pandya as the third seamer… that will be the big question,” the former chinaman spinner added.

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