Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar feels that Virat Kohli should play at No. 3 in the batting order amid calls for a shift in his position by a few as well. Notably, Kohli is among the most successful batters at No. 3 when it comes to ODIs and he has played at No. 4 only for some times as well. However, Kohli has scored 1767 runs in 39 innings at No. 4 which came at an average of 55.33 and a strike rate of 90.66 as well.
However, former India head coach Ravi Shastri has added the importance of separating the stacked top three to avoid a collapse in big matches as well. Saying that Kohli will play at No. 4 if asked to, Shastri had said earlier: “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 coach in 2019, I thought I might have discussed that with MSK as well of him batting at four just to break that top heavy line up.”
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Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar had earlier agreed with Shastri, but now he feels that Virat Kohli should bat where he has been the most successful throughout his career. The former skipper shared his views in an interaction with India Today:
“The best player must bat the maximum number of overs and at number three he gets an opportunity to bat the maximum number of overs. So as far as I’m concerned, I think that’s the place where he’s been enormously successful. He’s been, you know, he’s contributed. How many? 44 hundreds in that position, Maybe 43, maybe one in another position. But, he’s got so many hundreds in one day cricket batting at number three, why should they change that?” Sunil Gavaskar further added.
However, Virat Kohli last played at No. 4 during the home bilateral series against Australia in 2020. Moreover, his last seven innings at the position have had only 62 runs. Gavaskar also opined on the pressure that Team India will be facing in the build-up to these events.
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He said during the release of veteran cricket administrator Amrit Mathur’s book ‘Pitchside: My Life in Indian Cricket’ : “I don’t think there’s any other cricket team in the world which is under as much pressure of expectations than the Indian team. Because every match that the team plays, the fans, the followers — not just in India, but across the world — expect and want India to win. In sport, we all know that sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. The pressure can be telling and I think that’s the kind of pressure the Indian team is currently experiencing with everyone wanting them to win the Asia Cup and the World Cup.”
