Melbourne: Brad Hogg fears his Test career could be over if he does not get picked for the Boxing Day Test against India at the MCG.

Hogg, nursing an infected finger which prevented him putting his case forward in the second innings of the Pura Cup draw against Tasmania, said the injury would not keep him out of contention for Test selection, but selectors might.

“I was doing a few cosmetics, got stuck into the nail a bit too far and ripped it open. Then it got infected, so I couldn’t put the ball on it the other day,” Hogg was quoted as saying in a local newspaper.

“I should be alright in a couple of days, on the antibiotics, but it’s a little embarrassing. If I don’t get picked this time, I think I’ve run my race for Test cricket. We’ll see what happens.

“But I won’t give in. Whatever they go with, I can’t complain. But this is the best time for me, this will be the time I will be most ready,” he added.

With Stuart MacGill being out of contention for the start of the Indian series because of carpal tunnel syndrome, Australia’s first-choice spinner anointed Hogg as his successor until he returned.

But in-form paceman Shaun Tait, who took a career-best seven for 29 for South Australia in the Pura Cup last weekend, and wild card Victorian spinner Bryce McGain have put selectors in a quandary ahead of the Melbourne Test.