The No. 4 position in the Indian batting line-up has been a hot topic in world cricket for a long time now. Indian skipper Virat Kohli toned down the focus on the position a bit by saying that No. 4 and 5 positions in the Indian line-up are actually floaters and not specialist batsmen.
India have tried a lot of different batsmen at the position and have not yet got a stable one to cement his position at the spot. The Indian contingent have absolutely no shortage of classy batsmen in their ranks but somehow the issue has not been resolved yet.
Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar have all auditioned for the position but could not make a mark. The team is now looking forward at giving the keeper Rishabh Pant an opportunity at the spot.
India are currently playing an ODI series in the Caribbean. At the toss for the 2nd ODI, Virat Kohli said, “We are backing Rishabh to still bat at four and Shreyas Iyer will bat at five. Four and five are more like floating batting position for us, according to the situation of the game anyone can bat anywhere.”
Before the game, there were talks of Iyer being the latest candidate for the No. 4 audition but Kohli has turned that down for the moment. Therefore, Pant and Iyer will be following the superstars of the Indian top order, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
“For me, top-3 and probably 6 and 7 are specialist batting positions than four and five. I think, it has become a topic of debate for a long time. In ODI's and T20s, four and five are your flexible guys,” Kohli said.
