ICC World Cup 2019 | India considered Virat Kohli for No. 4 spot in semi-final

India were red hot favourites going into the semi-final but a poor exhibition with the bat saw them being knocked out of the tournament. MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja fought extremely well to pull things back for India but floundered on the brink of a win. 

New Zealand bowlers did well with the new ball and exploited the conditions brutally to send India’s top-order packing. As per reports, as soon as Indian openers took guard there was a discussion going on in the dressing room if Indian skipper Virat Kohli could be demoted in the batting order and bat at 4.

As per sources, Kohli was all padded up and got involved in a discussion with Ravi Shastri, Sanjay Bangar and MS Dhoni if he could bat at 4. 

“Pant or Pandya could’ve walked in and just blocked the first few overs. Maybe the first 10 (overs) could’ve been kept as the target. Just block, see off those overs. Things would’ve been different,” said sources, reported TOI. 

The thought picked up some fire as soon as Trnet Boult started showing his skills with the new ball. In the very second over, Rohit Sharma was undone by Matt Henry and Kohli had to take guard at three. In no time, Boult got the big fish and dented India’s hopes. 

“Virat walked out. You never know how things would have panned out, had he stayed back,” sources added.

One can only imagine what the result would have been had Kohli batted later when the conditions were more suitable for batting.