Sunil Gavaskar wants Virat Kohli to bat at No.4 in World Cup

Sunil Gavaskar has agreed with the Indian head coach Ravi Shastri as they feel that Kohli should come to bat at No.4 according to the English conditions. World Cup 2019 is scheduled to start on May 30 in England and Wales and the hopes are high on the Indian captain to lead from the front with the bat. 

"According to the conditions, flexibility is needed. If not, Virat Kohli is suited to batting at No. 3. In conditions that are conducive to swing bowling, India can afford to play Virat at No. 4," Gavaskar told Aaj Tak.

Although Kohli had scored about 191 runs during the ODI series against England in 2018 and had got out on all three matches against spin, Gavaskar is of the opinion that playing Kohli down the order would be beneficial for the team and recalled the Champions Trophy finals asserting that the batsman needs protection under such situations.

"Let's look at what happened in the Champions Trophy final. When Virat Kohli came out to bat, the ball was swinging quite a bit. Maybe the ball may not move that much when the No. 4 batsman walks out to the middle. Such moves can be beneficial to the team,” he added.

The former India captain had also kept his faith on Rishabh Pant despite his weary knock in the first T20 in Wellington. He underlined the fact that anybody could have failed and it would have been very tough for Pant to score straightaway as he had just travelled to join the team. 

"There are five more matches in India where Rishabh can make an impact. And he just arrived in New Zealand. Believe me, it's very tough to score straightway when you have travelled. It's just one match and anybody can fail. It's not a big deal" Gavaskar told India Today. 

He concluded by saying that he wouldn’t mind if the team juggles the squad to give opportunities to more players ahead of the World Cup. He further added that if India was experimenting at this stage, he wouldn’t be bothered too much about the outcome of the matches.