2019 Cricket WC: Sourav Ganguly disagrees with Ravi Shastri, says batting Kohli at 4 might weaken the Indian batting line-up
The biggest tournament in the game of cricket is just a few months away. The Cricket World Cup 2019 is set to be played in England later this year in the month of May. It is needless to say that every team, which is going to take part in the extravaganza, is working on getting the combination of its squad right.
The Indian team too is trying to fix its middle order issues as quick as possible. The Men In Blue are blessed with some great white ball cricketers who can bat at the top order but the team has been facing the issue of finding the correct middle order for a long period of time.
The Indian head coach Ravi Shastri had suggested an idea of playing Virat Kohli at number four during World Cup to strengthen the middle order of the team. During an interview with Cricbuzz, Shastri said, "The good thing about this Indian top-three is that we can separate them if conditions and situations demand. Someone like Virat Kohli can go to number four, and we can put a good number three to bring more balance to the batting line-up. That’s flexibility for you, and for big tournaments like the World Cup, you have to be flexible to see what’s the best balance for the side. So, we will decide that "
However, the former Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly seems to disagree with this idea. Dada feels moving Kohli to number four is not a great idea at all. Virat Kohli has great stats at number three and has achieved an innumerable number of milestones whilst playing at that number. And he will, undoubtedly, be a great boost for India at number three.
Here is what Dada had to say on this matter during his interview at India TV. "Virat will be coming back in the series to play at No.3. I was reading in the papers that Ravi (Shastri) wants him to play at No.4 but I don’t know who will play at No.3 then. Maybe Ambati Rayudu will play at No.3 with Kohli at No.4 but I don’t think that it is the right move because Kohli at No.3 is a huge player and this is India’s strength in ODIs - Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, and Virat.”
Most of the cricket fans will agree with the Bengal-born former cricketer. We all know that in cricket, the team's best batsman should bat most possible number of overs. Hence, playing Kohli at number four might not be a great idea. And as a blessing in disguise, India has five more ODIs against Australia before the world cup to set the right combination.