Brad Hogg: “I couldn’t find a genuine number four to place in this position from the year. So I decided to go with another number three. He wears green and I call him the magic man, it is Babar Azam”

Image courtesy of: Zimbio

Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg has called Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam the “magic man”.

Hogg’s praise for Azam comes after he included the 25-year-old is his current ODI XI.

Azam recently represented the Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he finished as the tournament’s highest run-scorer with 345 runs in 10 games for the Kings at an average of 49.28 and a strike-rate of 123.65.

Overall, the 25-year-old has been Pakistan’s most consistent player over the past 12 months.

“I couldn’t find a genuine number four to place in this position from the year. So I decided to go with another number three. He wears green and I call him the magic man, it is Babar Azam,” Hogg said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.

While India captain Virat Kohli and opener Rohit Sharma featured in his ODI XI, there were a few glaring omissions such as New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson and Australia opening batsman Aaron Finch.

“The two unlucky batsmen are Aaron Finch, who had a wonderful year in 2019, but his conversion rate wasn’t as good as everyone else in that top four. And the other one was Kane Williamson, [who] nearly got in front of Virat Kohli because he had a better average, but it was only a lower strike rate that kept him out of the side.”

Brad Hogg’s current ODI XI: Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Virat Kohli (C), Babar Azam, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Starc, Lockie Ferguson, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal

ALSO CHECK OUT: Younis Khan reveals which current Pakistan player can become a legend

[interaction id=”5dc6e7fe84c507bcfc1855f9″]