"The best player must bat the maximum number of overs" - Sunil Gavaskar feels Virat Kohli should not be shifted from his trademark No. 3 position 

Legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar firmly feels that Virat Kohli should operate at No. 3 in the batting order amid calls for a shift in his position by some experts. Kohli is among the most successful batters at No. 3 when it comes to ODIs and has played at No. 4 only for a brief while in his career.

Kohli has scored 1767 runs in 39 innings at No. 4 at an average of 55.33 and a strike rate of 90.66. With KL Rahul currently out injured and the poor form of other middle-order candidates like Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson has prompted the call for the former skipper to move a position down.

Additionally, Ishan Kishan - India's lone wicketkeeping option for the time being - is also better suited to the top of the order. Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has asserted the importance of separating the stacked top three to avoid a collapse in big matches.

Claiming 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."

While Gavaskar had earlier agreed with Shastri, he now feels that Kohli should bat where he has been the most successful. The former skipper said 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?" Gavaskar added.

Kohli last played at No. 4 during the home bilateral series against Australia in 2020. His last seven innings at the position have yielded only 62 runs.

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"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" - Sunil Gavaskar

Team India's decade-long ICC silverware drought despite fielding a generational team has led to expectations bubbling over ahead of each major tournament. The Men in Blue have entered each tournament as one of the favorites, but have failed to perform at their best when it has actually mattered.

India faltered during the 2022 Asia Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup in the space of a few months, and they now have a shot at redemption with the 2023 Asia Cup and the 2023 ODI World Cup in sight.

Gavaskar spoke about the pressure that Team India will be facing in the build-up to these events. 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," Gavaskar added.

India will start their 2023 Asia Cup campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Pallekele International Stadium on Saturday.