IND vs SA | There was miscommunication on who should walk in to bat at No.4, reveals Virat Kohli

India's No.4 conundrum reached new heights on Sunday as a comical incident all but summed up the Virat Kohli-led side's middle-order woes. After Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed by Tabraiz Shamsi on the eighth over, bizarrely, both Iyer and Pant started to walk to the field to bat next. There were reports prior to the match that the duo was gonna swap batting positions but chaos and confusion ensued, meaning both took the field at the same time. Eventually, the air was cleared and Pant walked in to bat at No.4, with Iyer batting at his usual No.5 position.

Skipper Kohli went on to reveal in the post-match presser that there was miscommunication within the team management which led to that situation, but at the same time, saw the lighter side of things, laughing the incident off.

"The batting coach (Vikram Rathour) had a word with both of them and there was a misunderstanding about who had to go at what stage of the game. It was a bit funny afterwards because they both wanted to walk in," Kohli was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

"It would have been very funny if both had reached the pitch," Kohli said after the match. "There was a miscommunication there. I understood it afterwards," he added.

Several people, including the great Sunil Gavaskar, had opined ahead of the match that Pant should bat at No.5 in order to buy himself more time. Kohli said that the idea was to interchange their batting positions according to the situation, but an unfortunate miscommunication meant that the plan all but capitulated.

"We had it planned according to phases. After 10 overs we had decided Rishabh would walk in; before that Shreyas had to walk in. But both of them got confused and didn't realize who has to walk in at what stage of the game," he said.

Both Pant and Iyer fell cheaply for 19 and 5 respectively, and it's safe to say that India have been left with more questions than answers post the conclusion of the series.