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The league stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 completed on Tuesday with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeating Mumbai Indians (MI) by 10 wickets. With the victory, SRH entered the playoffs and secured the third place in the points table. They will meet Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Eliminator on Friday (November 06).
As the league stage comes to a conclusion, several experts have started coming out with their best elevens of the season. Following the bandwagon, former Australia spinner Brad Hogg shared his best XI of the group stages. He surprised many by excluding some big names like Virat Kohli and KL Rahul.
Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) skipper Rahul is currently the highest run-getter with 670 runs to his name from 14 games at a spectacular average of 55.83. It is quite possible that he might finish the season as the leading run-scorer despite KXIP has been eliminated from the playoffs race.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Kohli, on the other hand, has amassed 460 runs from 14 games. He is the fifth-highest run-getter in the ongoing thirteenth season of the cash-rich league.
Another surprising move by Hogg was the absence of David Warner in his team. With 529 runs from 14 games, Warner is right behind Rahul as the second-highest run-scorer of the tournament.
For the openers, Hogg went with Shikhar Dhawan off Delhi Capitals (DC) and Mayank Agarwal from KXIP. Both Dhawan and Agarwal have impressed with 525 and 424 runs respectively in the competition.
Hogg picks Surya, ABD and Morgan as middle-order batsmen
For the middle-order, the former Aussie international picked Surya Kumar Yadav (MI), AB de Villiers (RCB) and Eoin Morgan (Kolkata Knight Riders). Hogg picked Hardik Pandya to strengthen his team’s lower-order.
Among seamers, the 49-year-old went with Rajasthan Royals (RR) pacer Jofra Archer, KXIP paceman Mohammed Shami and MI speedster Jasprit Bumrah. Archer has finished IPL 2020 with 20 wickets while Bumrah claimed 23 scalps till the league stage. Shami, on the other hand, has picked up 20 wickets. Interestingly, Hogg didn’t select the leading wicket-taker of IPL 2020, Kagiso Rabada, who has taken 25 scalps in the season.
Hogg went with Yuzvendra Chahal and Rashid Khan as spinners. Chahal with 20 wickets to his name is the leading wicket-taker among spinners while Rashid with 19 scalps is at the second place. Overall, Chahal is at the fourth spot while Rashid is in the seventh position.
Here’s Brad Hogg’s playing XI of IPL 2020:
Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Surya Kumar Yadav, AB de Villiers, Eoin Morgan, Hardik Pandya, Jofra Archer, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal.
