Former Indian legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar has said that he is not in great favor of Virat Kohli batting at number four. He believes that Virat Kohli should maintain his position as the No. 3 batsman for the Indian cricket team in the first game of the Asia Cup 2023 match against Pakistan.
Kohli has enjoyed remarkable success as a No. 3 batsman, with 39 of his 46 ODI centuries and over 10,000 runs coming from that position. He has also batted at number four position and it is not a new job to him.
In the initial stages of his career and during the 2011 World Cup, Kohli often batted at the number four position and registered 7 centuries from that spot. His batting average at number four stands at an impressive 55.21. Right now India is struggling for his number four batter and the former Indian head coach has suggested that Kohli should take the responsibility of that position.
“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. Even in the previous two World Cups, when I was coach in 2019, I thought I might have discussed that with MSK as well of him batting at four just to break that top heavy line up,” said Shastri.
On the contrary, Gavaskar appears to be against the idea. In an interview with India Today’s consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai, the Indian cricket legend expressed his belief that Kohli benefits from the number three position as it allows him to face the maximum number of overs in an innings.
Gavaskar said,”The best player must bat the maximum number of overs and at number three he gets an opportunity to bat the maximum number of overs.”
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“So as far as I’m concerned, I think that’s the place where he’s been enormously successful. He’s been, you know, he’s contributed. How many? 44 hundreds in that position, Maybe 43, maybe one in another position. But, he’s got so many hundreds in one day cricket batting at number three, why should they change that?” Gavaskar concluded.
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