Currently, all the teams are gearing up for the upcoming ICC Men’s ODI World Cup. This time India is the host of the most anticipated and awaited cricket tournament. The tournament will start on October 5, 2023. The inaugural match of ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 will be played between England and New Zealand. Not to mention, teams and cricket experts are currently making strategies and preparing themselves to face all kinds of challenges throughout the tournament as it is not going to be as easy as the 2023 Asia Cup was. Thus, former Indian cricket Sunil Gavaskar recently gave his suggestion to team India about its batting order. Sunil Gavaskar suggested Virat Kohli should bat at 4. Is it right or not? What’s your opinion? Read our POV on Sunil Gavaskar’s suggestion. Scroll down.
Should Virat Kohli Bat At No. 4 In ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023?
The majority of Kohli fans, Indian cricket team supporters, and cricket experts, may be not happy with this decision. But legendary Indian cricket Sunil Gavaskar is seeing what others aren’t. He suggested that Virat Kohli should be lowered to position 4 in the batting lineup if India loses early wickets with the new ball. Yes, the cliche of Sunil Gavaskar’s statement was that if the team struggles with the new ball and our openers fail in any World Cup game, then it won’t be wrong to position Virat Kohli at No. 4.
Sunil Gavaskar’s big statement over Kohli’s batting order came with respect to his records while batting at No. 4. Yes, Virat Kohli also has a good average and higher strike rate while batting at No. 4. In his ODI career, Virat Kohli scored 10,777 runs in 210 ODIs with an average of 60.21 while batting at number 3. Talking about his records while batting at No. 4, he scored 1767 runs with an average of 55.22 in 39 ODIs including 7 tons.
Sunil Gavaskar Suggests Kohli Bat At No. 4 In ICC World Cup 2023
During an interview with India Today, the legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar considered the scenario when Team India will lose early wickets. He said, “(On batting order) Any team has to be flexible…but I don’t want to disturb the top order. I don’t think Rohit Sharma should be looking to bat down the order. Yes, you can look at having Kohli at No. 4, particularly, if a wicket falls early because the new ball can do some early damage,” He further added, “Every time India has lost, I think it’s that the fact the new ball in the first 10-12 overs, India have lost three or four wickets, and both wickets out of these wickets have been Sharma and Kohli, who’ve been the victims, so it’s difficult. Maybe, look at it depending on the situation”
However, earlier former head coach Ravi Shastri also admitted that the team was thinking of asking Kohli to bat at No. 4 in the previous edition of the ODI World Cup but Kohlu batted at his usual position throughout the World Cup.
