Sanjay Manjrekar, the renowned commentator, has a solution of India's batting line-up problem at number four position in ODIs. It's something India has been trying from long to find the best-suited player to play at this position.
Manjrekar has come up with his suggestion for the position. While everyone is naming new players after every series for the most talked batting position, he came up with a few changes that could solve the problem as per him.
Talking on ESPN Cricinfo, the former India cricketer said he would make skipper Virat Kohli bat at number four as they have a good option to play at number 3 in KL Rahul.
Rahul has been in a fine touch, except for the ODI series against England, and the 53-year-old doesn't want him to be tried at 4, 5 or 6.
"I have a very simple alternative for number four if India wants to find a long-term quality number four batsman, there are just two options I feel - one is the captain himself, who could be brilliant and so KL Rahul comes in as a quality batsman at number three. I don't see Rahul as a number four, five six," he said.
There is one more option Manjrekar would love to try. He thinks Shreyas Iyer can be useful considering he has all that one needs to bat at that position.
"The other guy that India could explore as a number four is Shreyas Iyer. I have seen enough of him to know. A number four batsman needs to have all the gears, and most importantly is picking up the ones and the twos and that is where Iyer has the game and if he manages to survive into the last 10 overs he is ought to have the big game which Iyer has."
His affection for Rohit Sharma was seen again when he named the Indian opener to try out the number 4 position for India as well. Rohit plays at that position for Mumbai Indians in IPL and he has been a good contributor too.
"There is another slightly out-of-the-box alternative - Rohit Sharma bats down the order for Mumbai Indians, so can he be the number four of India as well and have KL Rahul open with Shikhar Dhawan. It's not about how an individual is feeling about the situation, it has to be about the team. And the team is looking for a number four then they should find the best possible option," he said.
