Former spinner Brad Hogg has highlighted the selection call that could come back to haunt Australia in the latter stages of the ongoing 2023 World Cup. His comments came after Australia’s spinners failed to make a mark against India in their World Cup-opener on Sunday (October 8) at the spin-friendly MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
On a tough batting pitch, Australia were all out for a modest 199 runs with India’s spin trio wreaking havoc. Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Ashwin combined to take 6 wickets for only 104 runs in 30 overs. Six of Australia’s top seven fell to the spinners. Jadeja was the pick of the bowlers, dismissing Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Alex Carey.
On the other hand, Kuldeep Yadav and Ravichandran Ashwin picked up two and one wicket respectively. Jadeja maintained an economy-rate of less than 3 while Ashwin and Kuldeep had an economy-rate of less than 4 and 5 respectively as the India spinners made the most of the condition.
Brad Hogg is concerned for Australia:
Australia started well with the ball as their pacers reduced India to 2 for 3. The onus was on the spinners to capitalise on the situation. However, Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell failed to make any mark. The duo collectively conceded 86 runs in 16 overs without picking any wicket.
Zampa was hit for three fours in his first over and he just could not recover after that. The leg-spinner finished the game with figures of 53 for no wicket from eight overs. Maxwell, on the other hand, also failed to provide the breakthrough but was far economical, conceding only 33 runs in 8 overs.
And as Australia’s spinners failed to provide the team with the breakthroughs, Brad Hogg took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his concerns. The World Cup-winning spinner opined that not replacing Ashton Agar with another specialist left-arm spinner might cost Australia big in the remainder of the World Cup.
Agar was named in Australia’s preliminary squad but was ruled out of the competition due to a calf injury. And Australia decided against replacing him with a spinner. He was replaced in the team by Labuschagne.
“Your [you’re] playing in India, you know conditions will suit the home team, not replacing Agar with another left-arm spin option could be crucial again later on in the tournament,” wrote Brad Hogg.
Your playing in India, you know conditions will suit the home team, not replacing Agar with another left arm spin option could be crucial again later on in the tournament. #CWC23 #INDvAUS
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) October 9, 2023
The post AUS vs SA: Brad Hogg Points Out Huge Selection Call That Could Haunt Australia In 2023 World Cup appeared first on CricketAddictor.
Former spinner Brad Hogg has highlighted the selection call that could come back to haunt Australia in the latter stages of the ongoing 2023 World Cup. His comments came after Australia’s spinners failed to make a mark against India in their World Cup-opener on Sunday (October 8) at the spin-friendly MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The post AUS vs SA: Brad Hogg Points Out Huge Selection Call That Could Haunt Australia In 2023 World Cup appeared first on CricketAddictor.
