World Cup 2019 | Vijay Shankar not ideal for number four, says Kevin Pietersen

World Cup 2019 | Vijay Shankar not ideal for number four, says Kevin Pietersen

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Kevin Pietersen has opined that he has not been satisfied with the decision of the BCCI selectors to go ahead with Vijay Shankar in the number four position in the World Cup. The all-rounder has only played nine ODIs and T20Is each for India, and is yet to score a fifty in international cricket.

The number four position of the Indian batting line up was one of the most debated topics before the selection of the 15-man squad for the World Cup, and it has still continued to be a talking point. India had tried various options for the crucial number four slot with Ambati Rayudu being given the given longest rope as Vijay Shankar and Rishabh Pant kept on the fringe.

However, the Tamil Nadu all-rounder quite surprisingly edged out the other two and found a place on the flight to England. The all-rounder, post his forgettable T20I series debut in the Nidahas Trophy a year back, made his ODI debut in the Australia series as Hardik Pandya was banned due to a controversy. He has played nine ODIs and an equal number of T20Is for India averaging 33 and 25 respectively. Though Shankar is yet to hit a half-century his crucial knock of 46 to bail out India in the second ODI against Australia has played a major role in his selection.

In the same match, he had also scalped two wickets in the final over to take India home, which are his only wickets in ODIs. The 28-year-old has also been below par in this season of the Indian Premier League, as he has only hit 139 runs in eight matches, at an average of a little below 20. And former England batsman, Kevin Pietersen has been of the opinion that the Sunrisers Hyderabad player has not been suited for the number four position for India in the quadrennial event, especially in English conditions.

“I haven’t seen enough of Vijay Shankar to warrant a No. 4 slot for India in the World Cup. I have seen some great players bat at No. 4 for India and sadly, Shankar seems far away from it. Batting at No. 4 is difficult and even more so in English conditions,” said Pietersen, reported Hindustan Times.

Kedar Jadhav, who debuted for India in 2014 as an attacking middle-order batsman, had hardly ever bowled in his domestic career. He started by bowling off-spin at the international level and has been successful with it making people forget that he was a wicket-keeper once. He has been seen getting called up to bowl the middle overs often, and has 27 wickets at an average of almost 35.

But Pietersen felt that the Maharashtra batsman, as well as Shankar, have been drafted into the squad just because of the fact that they can also bowl a few overs, and not purely because of their batting skills.

“It is almost like Shankar and Jadhav have made it to the India squad because they can bowl,” the 38-year-old concluded.

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