Should Kohli Bat At No 4?

Ravi Shastri reckons Virat Kohli should bat at No, 4 in the ODI World Cup.

'If Virat has to bat at four, he will bat at four in the interest of the side. You know, there were times I thought of it,' the former head coach said.

'Even in the previous two World Cups, when I was coach in 2019, I thought I might have discussed that with MSK (Prasad, then the chairman of the selectors) as well of him batting at four just to break that top heavy line up,' Shastri said in a chat on Star Sports's Selection Day show.

'You know, because if we lost two or three at the top, we were gone and it was proved so. Just for that experience... And if you look at Virat Kohli's record, he is good enough at number four,' he added.

Kohli has scored 1,767 runs (7 hundreds and 8 fifties) in 39 matches at an impressive average of 55.2.

Kohli has also dabbled as an opener in ODIs -- he has scored 166 runs in 7 matches, with 54 being his highest.

He primarily bats at the No. 3 spot. Batting one down, in 210 ODI matches, he has scored over 10,000 runs with 39 tons and 55 50s.

India's batting is vulnerable with a spate of injuries to batters Rishabh Pant, K L Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. To add to India's worries, Suryakumar Yadav is woefully out of form in ODIs, and Sanju Samson just not finding his stride.

Rahul Dravid may have to shuffle players around in the Asia Cup before settling on a set batting order in time for the World Cup in October.