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Former India coach Ravi Shastri has revealed that he thought about sending Virat Kohli into bat at the No. 4 position during the 2019 ODI World Cup in England. Shastri admitted that he felt India’s batting was perhaps top-heavy and could hurt them if they lose early wickets.
Under Kohli, India reached the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup but went down to New Zealand by 18 runs in the knockout clash in Manchester. Chasing a target of 240, the Men in Blue’s batting crumbled as they were 5/3 at the start of the fourth over - Rohit Sharma, Kohli, and KL Rahul back in the hut for 1 each.
Reflecting on India’s 2019 World Cup performance while discussing the upcoming edition, Shastri shared his views on Kohli’s batting position.
He said on Star Sports' Selection Day show:
"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 [Prasad] as well of him batting at four just to break that top heavy line up."
"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," Shastri added.
Kohli batted at his customary No. 3 position in the 2019 World Cup. He had an impressive tournament, scoring 443 runs in nine innings at an average of 55.38 and a strike rate of 94.06.
India, however, yet again failed to go all the way, faltering in the semi-finals of the competition.
Virat Kohli’s record at No. 4 in ODIs
Kohli has batted at the No. 4 position in 42 matches in one-dayers, scoring 1767 runs at an average of 55.21, with seven hundreds. His highest of 139* at the batting position came against Sri Lanka in Ranchi in November 2014.
Overall, the 34-year-old has featured in 275 ODI games in which he has amassed 12898 runs at an average of 57.32, with 46 hundreds and 65 fifties.
