Virat Kohli should bat lower down the order during the upcoming Asia Cup and ICC Cricket World Cup, according to former Indian head coach and all-rounder Ravi Shastri. He added that he had even considered it while serving as the coach for the 2019 World Cup in England.
Ishan Kishan should open the batting, according to him, and Virat, skipper Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill should change positions if necessary. Moving Virat down the order will also break up the heavy top order, add some experience, and give the lower-middle order more batting depth, according to Shastri. “Ishan Kishan ought to start the batting order right at the top.
Rohit as a captain is vastly experienced. He can go in at three. he can go at four. This is where you have to see the player’s frame of find. How will Shubman Gill feel if asked to bat No.3 or No.4 as opposed to batting at the top? No one owns a position. If Virat has to bat at four, he will bat at four for the team,” Shastri said on Star Sports.
Shastri revealed that the thought of asking Virat to drop down the order had crossed his mind while he was the head coach of Team India during the last edition of the World Cup in England.
“There were times when I thought of it even in the previous two World Cups. I might have discussed that with MSK (former Chief Selector MSK Prasad) of him batting at four, just to break that top-heavy line-up. If we lost two or three at the top, we were gone. And it was proved so just for breaking that, you need experience,” Shastri said.
“If you look at Virat Kohli’s record at No.4, it’s quite good,” Shastri added.
While Virat is the best all-format batter in the world currently and, arguably, the best ever across formats, his most prolific format is ODIs.