Ajit Agarkar not in favour of pushing Virat Kohli to No. 4

Ever since India coach Ravi Shastri has said that there might be a change in the batting order of Kohli with the management thinking about pushing the Indian captain to No. 4, there has been a lot of discussion about Kohli’s batting position ahead of the World Cup now. Kohli, himself has admitted that he will have no issues playing a position lower in the batting order if there is a requirement.

However, Agarkar has now raised a question saying that why the management wants to tinker with the position of India’s best batsman while he has amazing numbers at No. 3 in the ODIs. 

“Those numbers tell you the story - 32 hundreds at No.3. And yeah, the numbers still are good at No.4. But still, not at all. Why would you push your best batsman lower down the order when most of his career, the greatness that he has achieved at No.3 and he sets up the game or finishes off the game for India at that number,” Agarkar told ESPNCricinfo.

India’s top three – Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli - have been doing well at their respective batting positions and the team management has looked up to Ambati Rayudu as a batsman who can fit in at No. 4 in last few ODIs for the Men in Blue. However, the management is mulling to push Kohli lower down the order to strengthen the middle-order during the global event.  

“He is right in saying that I don’t mind batting at No.4, but I feel it will be a silly thing for India to push Kohli down the order. And not for batting KL Rahul at No.3. The top three are the reason why India are doing so well in one-day cricket. In middle-order, there are a few worries,” the former India pacer stated.