IPL 2021: Brad Hogg picks his Mumbai Indians’ starting XI

Brad Hogg, the former Australian cricketer, has picked his version of Mumbai Indians’ (MI) eleven for the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). To start with, he went for Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock as the openers. Even as De Kock is nearing 2,000 runs in the IPL, Rohit is fourth in the list of leading run-scorers in the history of the T20 championship.

Hogg feels that while Rohit can look to put his head down and play deep into the innings, the onus of increasing the scoring rate should be on De Kock. At number three and four, Hogg named Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, who both made their international debuts in the T20I series against England. Hogg put forth his views while speaking on his YouTube channel.

“They will have Rohit Sharma and De Kock opening the batting. They both complement each other. Rohit Sharma will be a bit more conservative trying to bat the maximum number of overs. De Kock, his role will be to get the momentum, get off to a good start in the powerplay,” Hogg said.

“Then you have got Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan coming in at 3 and 4. Both have just got a little bit of international experience and they would be better for that as well,” he stated.

I think Piyush Chawla will be in the starting XI: Brad Hogg

It didn’t spring a surprise that Hogg went for Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, and Krunal Pandya as the rest of the batters. Krunal had a stupendous outing in the ODIs against England as in the first game, he turned up with a match-winning half-century. Hogg also lauded Pollard and Hardik for their brutal power-hitting.

“Kieron Pollard at 5, Hardik Pandya at 6, and Krunal Pandya at 7. Pollard and Hardik had a strike rate of over 200 in the last five overs. That is where they took the competition away,” Hogg quipped.

As the fast bowlers, Hogg went for Nathan Coulter Nile and the duo of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult. Hogg also feels that leg-spinner Piyush Chawla should be in the starting eleven because of his wicket-taking ability.

“Nathan Coulter-Nile will come in at 8. I think Piyush Chawla will be in the starting XI. He is the third leading wicket-taker in the competition and will add wicket-taking depth, with Boult and Bumrah at the other end,” Hogg added.

Here’s the XI:

Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Piyush Chawla, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah.