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The dissection of India's loss to New Zealand in the World Test Championship (WTC) continues. Experts, former players, and fans putting their two cents worth despite the completion of the inaugural tournament.
Reports of changes ringing in after the WTC loss have already made headlines. The popular opinion doing the rounds is whether Virat Kohli should bat at No.3 in India's upcoming Test series against England starting August 4.
The theory stems from calls to drop Cheteshwar Pujara after his forgettable outing in the WTC final. However, Kohli at No.3 means Pujara sits out and there is a need to bring in a specialist batsman or an all-rounder, both of which India have options to choose from.
WTC final post analysis: Kohli at No.3?
Virat Kohli doesn't have great numbers at No.3. Howstat says he's mustered just 61 runs from six innings (with one fifty). That said, attempting to justify his slot with numbers is unfair considering a batsman of his caliber.
A major chunk of Kohli's runs in Tests come from batting at No. 4 where he's stacked up 6033 runs from 112 innings at an average of 41.45. If at all there is a plan for Kohli at No.3 to tweak things after the WTC loss, the idea might work considering that it is the Indian skipper's preferred batting position in the limited-overs format.
Kohli has scored 10053 runs in ODIs batting at No.3 at a staggering average of 62.44 and a strike rate of 94.22. So batting one-drop isn't a bad idea.
If Kohli bats at No.3, who bats at No.4?
India has plenty of options to choose from. Ajinkya Rahane will be the most obvious choice. KL Rahul and Hanuma Vihari are the other options India can look to experiment with in the batting order. This however, comes at the cost of resting Pujara from the playing XI.
Pujara's scores of 8 and 15 in the WTC final were one of the highlights of India's poor batting performance. While Virat Kohli (44 & 13) and Ajinkya Rahane (49 & 15) were pulled up for average performances, it was perhaps Pujara's batting position that put him under the radar.
Do you think Virat Kohli at No.3 is a ploy India could use against England?
