“Virat is perfect for No. 4,” AB de Villiers thinks Virat Kohli should DEMOTE himself in the batting order

AB de Villiers and many more think Virat should bat at No. 4.

“Virat is perfect for No. 4,” AB de Villiers thinks Virat Kohli should DEMOTE himself in the batting order

Virat Kohli (via OTV News)

Since 2013, Virat Kohli has been batting at the no. 3 spot for India, and it has been his best position statistically. In 210 innings, he has scored 10777 runs, averaging 60.21. He has batted at the no. 4 spot as well, playing 39 innings and scoring 1767 runs averaging 55.22.

With the Asia Cup barely a week away, many fans and pundits aren’t sure who will bat at no. 4. Shreyas Iyer used to be the batter in that position, but with injuries plaguing him, he hasn’t played an ODI in over 7 months. Suryakumar Yadav has a terrible time at that spot as well. SKY himself has agreed that he has been poor in ODIs.

YouTube video

Seeing this situation, fans think Virat should start batting at the No. 4 spot. Mr 360, AB de Villiers, thinks his former RCB teammates should bat in the position. On his YouTube channel he said, “I think Virat is perfect for No. 4. He can put the innings together, play any kind of role in that middle order. I don’t know if he would like to do that. We know he loves his No. 3 position; he’s scored all his runs there, but at the end of the day, if the team needs you to do something, play a certain role, you have got to put your hand up and got for it.”

Former Indian coach, Ravi Shastri, suggested the same. Sanjay Manjrekar disagreed with Shastri, saying keeping Kolhi away from the no. 3 spot would be wrong as Kohli has kept on putting stellar performances at that position. He suggested keeping Ishan Kishan at no. 4 instead. 

Related: WATCH: Bengaluru Police can’t stop themselves from taking pictures with Virat Kohli, video goes viral

Will Shreyas Iyer retain his No. 4 spot? 

Shreyas Iyer 1
Shreyas Iyer Batting against Bangladesh in a T20I (Imager via India TV news)

After the 2019 World Cup, India had decided to try out Shreyas Iyer or Rishabh Pant at the No. 4 spot for the ODI Team. While both had noteworthy performances at that spot, Iyer was much more consistent and kept that spot. In 20 innings, he scored 805 runs at an average of 47.35. 

Due to injuries, he has missed out on a lot of cricket. The last ODI he played was in January 2023 against Sri Lanka and the last appearance for India was in the last Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. He was out of the IPL due to injury. 

With him returning to international cricket after a long term Injury, the question remains whether he will retain his spot in the side or will it be given to the likes of Suryakumar Yadav or Ishan Kishan.

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