Sanjay Manjrekar wants Virat Kohli to bat at No. 4 to give the chance to Ishan Kishan at the top of the Indian batting order in the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand. However, India will play three ODIs against New Zealand, with the first game to be played in Hyderabad on Wednesday, January 18 as well. With KL Rahul unavailable for the series, Kishan will likely to play as the wicketkeeper-batter.

During an interaction on the Star Sports show ‘Game Plan’, Manjrekar said: “It’s going to be still tricky. One guy is going to be really upset. I have got an idea to sort this mess out. Have Shubman Gill bat at No. 3, he seems like he can handle that position, and then Virat Kohli sacrifices his No. 3 for a No. 4. He has done that before to Ambati Rayudu once, many years back against Sri Lanka. So that could be a way to sort it out. Ishan Kishan after his double hundred, left and right-handed combination at the top is not such a bad idea.”

READ MORE: ‘Could have gone deeper’ – Shubman Gill on his knock

Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan has only opened twice in the nine ODI innings he has played till date. He has batted at No. 3 on four occasions and thrice at No. 4 as well. Sanjay Manjrekar also feels Kishan’s presence at the top of the order will also help Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli as well.

ALSO READ: Viacom18 bags WIPL Media Rights for 5 years

“You have got to make use of Ishan Kishan’s current form and the kind of explosion that he provides. Always helpful for guys like Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli coming in next if you got somebody coming in and getting 50 off 30 balls. Then down the order, how you get the middle order right – I don’t know. Suryakumar Yadav is back in the 50-overs fold. He is in the Test squad as well, so that is brilliant. Shreyas Iyer has to play before Suryakumar Yadav, that’s going to be tricky,” Sanjay Manjrekar concluded.