Virat Kohli - Ready to take Sachin Tendulkar's number 4 spot in Tests

Virat Kohli

There is a very interesting news item which has surfaced today – Virat Kohli might be seen playing at the number 4 position for India in Tests. This slot was occupied by Sachin Tendulkar for a long time. Virat’s coach Raj Kumar Sharma has said that after the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar, Kohli is ready to take his place.

I personally feel that this is perhaps the best possible equation for Team India. Many of the experts have already predicted that Virat is the best alternative. His unabated hunger for runs, style of stroke play and commitment are more or less the same as Sachin. Incidentally, in the 20 Test matches and 33 innings played by Kohli so far, he has never batted at the number 4 position. Interestingly, Virat Kohli had scored his first 100 in a first class match while playing at number 4 position!

Kohli has become the favourite of one and all. Primarily, the onus of building any innings lies on his shoulders, even if our opening pair of Dhawan and Murali Vijay is able to put up a decent score. True, with the inclusion of Cheteshwar Pujara our batting strength has increased, but a whole lot still depends on Virat Kohli. Suresh Raina and Sir Jadeja are capable of contributing 35-40 runs, but not much more.

Whenever the top order falls, captain MS Dhoni takes charge and very often gets to play along with Kohli; they have marvellous chemistry together. Both are stroke players, and run very well between the wickets. Both of them are capable of fast tracking the run rate and once they get into form, it really becomes difficult for the opposition.

It is amazing that Virat could not do much during the last four matches he played; his scores were 19, 31, 0, and he did not bat in the last match. Still, his batting average in Tests is 41.16 and in ODIs it is 51.54. Kohli is known for his bold attitude, and yet he has a maturity in his shot selection. Virat always comes to the forefront to take up responsibility. He has emerged as a trustworthy batsman. His game plan is to be fearless – irrespective of the status of the bowler. He times his shots well and has got excellent foot work. He is an excellent fielder too.

The part about Kohli that most of his fans adore is that he has the right mentality to correctly assess the situation and the rare ability to fast track the run rate. Many believe that once settled in the team, he is going to rock.