Former captain of South Africa and RCB legend Ab de Villiers has found a solution for India’s number 4 batting position conundrum. According to de Villiers, the perfect choice for this position is Indian great Virat Kohli. This speculation is based on Kohli’s sole ability to adapt to the situation to manifest a crucial and sensible innings.
While speaking on his YouTube vlog, Ab de Villiers mentioned, “I’ve heard some rumours about Virat possibly taking up that position. I would be a big supporter of that.”
However, it is not clear if there are any talks going on about pushing Virat to number 4 position. It is right in a sense that players make a playing position prolific, not the other way around. At professional level of cricket, every player needs to be flexible with that position they bat at.
De Villiers further added:
“I think Virat is perfect for No. 4. He can put the innings together, play any kind of role in that middle order. I don’t know if he would like to do that. We know he loves his No. 3 position; he’s scored all his runs there, but at the end of the day, if the team needs you to do something, play a certain role, you have got to put your hand up and got for it.”
There is no doubt that Virat Kohli is at his best when he bats at number 3 because he has batted there for more than a decade now. And he has scored some magnificent runs at this position, so pushing him to number 4 will mean that either Shreyas Iyer or KL Rahul will need to go up in the order which seems unlikely to happen.
Kohli has impressive numbers while batting at fourth position, however, if numbers are going to play a decisive role in selecting player for a specific spot then it might seem unfortunate for Suryakumar Yadav who has struggled in ODIs as a finisher at number 5.
So, this can’t be about numbers, however, in cricket, numbers are obsession of a kind and when numbers are looked at too much, a team goes on to lose match winners. After Asia Cup squad reveal, Rohit Sharma rightly said that the players have to be flexible with their batting position, nobody can demand a specific batting position in the team.
Team India is making preparations for Asia Cup in Alur district, Karnataka. The team had played a few practice matches there and Shreyas Iyer played perfectly without any trouble. He batted for almost 35 overs, playing cautious and aggresive shots.
