Former Australian cricketer Brad Hogg has backed premier pacer Pat Cummins as the ‘most deserving candidate’ to lead the Australian cricket team.
After sustaining a second successive home series loss against India, Tim Paine’s place in the team as a captain has come under immense scrutiny as many pundits and fans have started criticising him and feel that the 36-year-old wicket-keeper batsman should be snubbed from captaincy.
However, Australia's limited-overs captain Aaron Finch's has also not done such a great job as a skipper recently and many have also raised questions about him leading the team in the T20 World Cup this year.
With many options including Steve Smith who can be the face of Australian cricket, former spinner Brad Hogg feels that Pat Cummins is the most deserving candidate for the captaincy. He, however, admitted that the only issue with him being captain is that being a fast bowler he has to do a lot of work.
“I think Australia’s most deserving candidate for captaincy in both off and on the field is Pat Cummins. I think he (Cummins) is a fantastic role model and a brilliant cricketer. I think he is just perfect for the role like he does for the New South Wales. The only issue I have is that the fast bowlers do have a lot more work compared to others,” Brad Hogg told Times Now.
Hogg said that Pat Cummins may have to sacrifice playing in domestic leagues to make sure he plays majority of the games for Australia. He added that Steve Smith can lead Australia but the public is not ready to see him as a leader.
“Pat may have to sacrifice to play other domestic leagues such as IPL to make sure that he is going to play the majority of the games in National colours. Smith might have a fantastic cricket brain but I don’t think the Australian public are still ready to see him as a leader,” he said.
Hogg remarked that during COVID-19 time, Australia should prefer playing with two different sides. He further added that he would love to see Aaron Finch captain Australia till T20 World Cup and opined after that Alex Carey might take up the role.
“We’re still in the protocols of COVID-19 pandemic wherever we go to play so I would prefer two different skippers in limited-overs and Test cricket. I think Australia have enough squad depth to make two sides.
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“I love to see Aaron Finch as a white-ball captain although he is under pressure with his batting form. He should definitely remain captain till T20 World Cup later this year. After that, Alex Carey might take the role as many see him as a promising leader,” he said.
The Australian team will next be seen in action when they tour West Indies for a white-ball series in July.
(Times Now inputs)
