Patient Hogg waits for Test opening

Brad Hogg is a better bowler than when he last figured in a Test because he has added patience to his repertoire, according to Adam Gilchrist. Hogg's chances of playing against India on Boxing Day grow with each episode of the Stuart MacGill injury saga and Gilchrist has been impressed with his form.

"He's more patient," Gilchrist told AAP. "He doesn't feel he has to produce the big deliveries to get a wicket, it's going to be a build-up.

"Often even in his one-day cricket he has proven that. In that first-class game I kept to him in Melbourne a few weeks ago, he definitely showed that patience and better understanding of what he can do to go about getting a wicket.''

Hogg captured 8 for 83 in the Pura Cup match with Gilchrist behind the stumps, but he went wicketless against South Australia last week. Strong performances in the one-day side have kept Hogg in with a chance of reviving his four-Test career, which was last updated against Zimbabwe in 2003. At the World Cup he earned 21 wickets and on the tour of India the locals struggled to cope with his variation.

"A lot of batsmen around the world can't pick him,'' Gilchrist said. "The Indians are definitely fine players of spin but certainly he has got a lethal wrong'un that is very difficult to pick.''