Comparing Fab 4's ODI record at No. 4 ft. Virat Kohli

South African legend AB de Villiers has once again stirred the debate about Virat Kohli and the No. 4 batting position. He said he'd love his former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain at two-down if his team needs him there.

Whether or not India need him to bat at No. 4 isn't known. Shreyas Iyer, who did the job brilliantly there before a back injury ruled him out for months, has only just come back. KL Rahul had a similar situation but still needs some days to get back to match fitness which leaves the middle-order a bit short on experience.

So there's this opinion that Kohli should solve both issues by lending experience at No. 4 and allowing someone like Ishan Kishan to take No. 3, where the former is the best in the world. But there's also an understanding that this might be a fundamental shift that should be avoided this close to the World Cup.

However, de Villiers' opinion comes from experience. He played most of his ODI cricket at No. 4 and 5 but had a magnificent record at No. 3 - 721 runs, three centuries, and as many fifties in just 13 games at an average of 60. Even his strike rate of 124.53 at No. 3 was the best for him at any position.

As it turns out, this has been the pattern for many of the greatest batters of this generation. de Villiers was too senior to be included in the "fab-four" of Kohli, Steve Smith, Joe Root, and Kane Williamson. But like him, all of them spent some time batting at number four before making number three their own once and for all.

Here's a comparison of their records at the position:

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#4 Kane Williamson

Willamson batted everywhere from No. 3 to 7 in the initial phase of his career. He was constantly promoted to No. 3 in 2010 before being given a short run at No. 4 in 2012.

He scored two 50s in the position (against South Africa and West Indies in 2012) but could only collect 108 runs in the remaining eight games at an average of 22.10. Williamson was accommodating the likes of Ross Taylor and Brendon McCullum initially and left-handed batter Daniel Flynn later.

Flynn was dropped in late 2012 and Williamson got a chance at No. 3 against South Africa at the Diamond Oval in January 2013 where he scored an unbeaten 145 off 136 balls to seal the spot and never look back.

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#3 Steve Smith

Australia's ace Smith has scored 748 runs from 23 innings at an average of 35.6 and a strike rate of 90.45 at No. 4. He had six half-centuries at the position and a century against South Africa at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2014.

Like Williamson, he also batted as deep as No. 8 at the start of his career and didn't play at No. 3, his best position, even four years after his debut. Australia have still stuck with him at No. 4 for a few games every year. He played there even in the 2019 World Cup, with Usman Khawaja at No. 3.

The constant experimentation can be partly attributed to Australia's wealthy line of top-order batters and partly to Smith's unavailabilities due to various reasons.

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#2 Joe Root

Former England Test captain Root has played the most number of matches at No. 4 among the fab-four and has the second-best average - 41.08. In 55 innings in that position, he has scored 2013 runs including 4 centuries and 10 fifties.

His position was almost flexible till 2018, playing 57 innings at No. 3 and 54 at No. 4. This was when England used all three of Jonny Bairstow, Jason Roy, and Alex Hales in their top order.

An injury to Roy and then Hales' ban made England push Root ahead and since 2018, he has played almost exclusively at No. 3.

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#1 Virat Kohli

In another example of his greatness in the 50-over format, Kohli has fared better than his fab-four counterparts even at No. 4. In 39 innings, he has 1767 runs at the position at an average of 55.22 and a strike rate of 90.66. He scored as many as seven centuries from two-down and eight half-centuries.

Like Root, Kohli switched between No. 3 and No. 4 for the early part of his career. Gautam Gambhir and Rahul Dravid used to play ahead of him initially and then he had to accommodate Ambati Rayudu and Ajinkya Rahane ahead of him.

But this was only till October 14, 2015, the second ODI of a five-match series against South Africa at home. India used Rahane at No. 3 for the first two matches before moving him to the lower order for the third. This was despite the Mumbaikar scoring a half-century in a winning cause in the second ODI.

Kohli took No. 3 like a duck to water and scored 77 (99) and 138 (140) to cast his name in stone at the position.