India’s majestic form has kept a huge concern hidden so far - the No.4 conundrum

If luck does play a major role in every sportsman’s career then Kohli is wearing it like an armour at the moment. Apart from the fact that their opponents have been largely error-prone, India saw two lost toss decisions going their way in Sri Lanka and always seem to be finding unlikely match-winners in every pressure situations. However, though the current side looks perfect for the upcoming 2019 World Cup with all their bases properly backed-up, India still remain largely unsettled at the number 4 position. Their winning streak has so far carried that spot as a passenger but it doesn’t diminish the extreme importance of a skilful number 4 batsman in the ODI format.

India have encountered three major top-order collapses in the last few games where a good number 4 was quintessential but fortunately for Kohli, victory prevailed in all the cases. MS Dhoni pulled the side out of the muddle against Sri Lanka at Pallekele, in Chennai Hardik Pandya came to India's rescue and in Kolkata, an unusual Bhuvneshwar Kumar worked the magic. There was no one in London, in the Champions Trophy final, and while many wrote it off as poor luck, stats reveal that India could see those occurrences oft repeated unless attended immediately.

It took two poor knocks for Manish Pandey, 0 in Chennai and 3 in Kolkata, who had taken the number four spot from KL Rahul after Sri Lanka, to get replaced by Pandya in Indore. Pandey has been brilliant for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL in that role and could bring his genius to the number four position if given time, which needs the selectors to have a more open-minded approach. Strangely, India were still in search of a concrete number 4 when Australia had visited in 2013. Suresh Raina was a work in progress then but the southpaw’s repeated failure to cope with Mitchell Johnson’s bouncers saw him dropped from the side. The likes of Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu and Yuvraj Singh, all came to the fore over the years but could hardly concrete their spot.

Critics and former selectors had even voiced their opinion when Yuvraj Singh wasn’t included in the ODI squad to face Australia. But such has been the fate of the number-four project that the players of yesteryear like Yuvraj and Raina still fancy their chances to make a comeback into the side. Strangely, Yuvraj poses a strong case in this regard, a tally of 358 runs in nine innings over the last two years, still remain unchallenged. And more than the failure of the players taking that role, it has been the selectors’ fault that such a tally is yet to be crossed by anyone in the number four spot. However, going back is hardly an option now.

India have the biggest luxury of time ahead of the World Cup to make that decision, as they face New Zealand, Sri Lanka and South Africa in back-to-back series next. And as Virat Kohli always says at the press-conferences, the selectors will now have to ‘define concrete roles’ for the players, even if it demands giving them 10-15 matches to fit the side’s need.