After the successful trip of Australia and New Zealand, Indian head coach Ravi Shastri said that he wants the batting order to be quite flexible and hence, Virat Kohli could walk out at number 4 in order to shepherd the middle order. Although this idea was not endorsed by Sourav Ganguly, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar too nodded along in agreement.
Now, chief selector MSK Prasad who has been quite vocal about the team combination in the recent past has dubbed this statement by Shastri as a 'wonderful idea', and one which could be implemented keeping the interests of the team in mind.
'Virat has done extremely well at number 3'
"I think it is a wonderful thought that Virat Kohli can bat at No.4 and that is what Ravi Shastri has expressed. This has been happening for quite some time, but we will have to see. Because Virat has done extremely well at No.3," Prasad said in an interview to Hotstar.
However, he was quick to add that the dynamics and requirement of the team should take precedence and Kohli should be the best judge of the situation.
"He is the No.1 batsman in the world. But if it is for the requirement of the team and Virat has to come at No.4 he will definitely do it. But again, we will have to see what the team requires and what the dynamics of the team is. That will decide his batting position," he added.
Last month, Shastri had spoken about using a new number three and then using the Indian captain at number 4 to render more solidity to the batting order. It should be mentioned here that the number 4 position in the Indian team has been a contentious one, although Ambati Rayudu has managed to nail it down after some good performances in the ODI series in Australia and New Zealand.
"The good thing about this Indian top-three is we can separate them if conditions and situations demand. Someone like Virat Kohli can go to number four, and we can put a good number three to bring more balance to the batting line-up. That's flexibility for you, and for big tournaments like the World Cup," Shastri had said.
