Former India coach Ravi Shastri has said that Virat Kohli is more than capable of batting at no.4 in the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 and the ODI World Cup 2023 in case the regular choices for that spot, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul fail to get 100% fit from their injuries in time.
Team India is facing a significant problem in the middle order ahead of these two big tournaments, due to uncertainty over the fitness of Iyer and Rahul, as they have been without a proper No. 4 in the middle order, giving fans a horrible reminder of what happened before the 2019 World Cup.
After playing Ambati Rayudu at no.4 for more than a year in preparation for the World Cup, the then MSK Prasad-led BCCI committee dropped the Andhra batter for the tournament and India suffered in the World Cup, trying out different batters at that position.
Ravi Shastri, who was then the Indian head coach, revealed that he had a chat with then-chief selector MSK Prasad for using Virat Kohli at number 4 during the 2019 World Cup. He pointed out that if the top-order fails then it’s good to have a batter like Kohli at number 4 to stabilize the innings.
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“If Virat has to bat at four, he will bat at four in the interest of the side. You know, there were times I thought of it. Even in the previous two World Cups, when I was the coach in 2019, I thought I might have discussed that with MSK [Prasad] as well of him batting at four to break that top-heavy lineup.
You know, because if we lost two or three at the top, we were gone and it was proved so. Just for that experience… And if you look at Virat Kohli’s record, he is good enough at number four," said Shastri to Star Sports.
Kohli has a decent record at the no.4 position in ODIs, scoring 1767 runs in 42 matches at a sublime average of 55.21, with seven hundreds.
In recent years, Shreyas Iyer has been given the role in that position, and in 20 matches, he scored 805 runs at 47.35 with two centuries and five fifties.
