Ravi Shastri, India’s former coach, has said that putting Virat Kohli at number four could solve India’s long-standing problem of not having a steady player at that key spot.
Since 2017, India has tried 12 different players at that spot, but none of them could keep it. India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, called this “an issue” before the World Cup, which will be held in India in October and November.
Most of Kohli’s 12,898 runs, which include 39 hundreds, have come from playing at number three in 212 of his 275 games.
Kohli has batted at number four 42 times and has an average of 55.21, which is just below his overall average of 57.32. He has also hit seven hundreds.
Shastri was the coach of the India team when Kohli was captain. India lost to New Zealand in the semi-finals of the 2019 World Cup.
“If Virat has to bat at number four, he will bat there for the good of the team. I did think about it sometimes,” Shastri told Star Sports channel.
Shastri said that during the 2019 World Cup, he thought about moving Kohli to a different spot “just to break up that top-heavy lineup.”
“You know, because it was proven that if we lose two or three at the top, we’re done.”
“If you look at Virat Kohli’s track record, he is good enough to be number four.”
Shreyas Iyer looked good at number four, where he scored both of his one-day hundreds. However, he is still getting better after having back surgery.
India’s second-best team, led by Jasprit Bumrah, will play in a three-game T20 series in Ireland starting on Friday in Dublin.
The Asia Cup starts on August 30 in Multan, but India’s games will be played in Sri Lanka. This will be a tougher test for Rohit’s team.