Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has revealed that he mulled over asking Virat Kohli to bat at number four during the 2019 World Cup to strengthen India's middle order. Shastri revealed that he as the head coach of the team felt the need to break India's top-heavy line-up and bring more experience in the middle order.
While engaging in a discussion on India's batting order ahead of the forthcoming Asia Cup to be played in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, Shastri mentioned that apart from Ishan Kishan who should be batting at the top of the order, the other three including skipper Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and former captain Virat should be open to batting anywhere from one to four.
"Ishan Kishan should bat right at the top of the order. Rohit as a captain is vastly experienced. He can go in at three. he can go at four. This is where you have to see the player's frame of find. How will Shubman Gill feel if asked to bat No.3 or No.4 as opposed to batting at the top? No one owns a position. If Virat has to bat at four, he will bat at four for the team," Shastri told on Star Sports.
"There were times when I thought of it even in the previous two World Cups. I might have discussed that with MSK of him batting at four, just to break that top-heavy line-up. If we lost two or three at the top, we were gone. And it was proved so just for breaking that, you need experience," Shastri added.
The former India player also advised Kohli to evolve with the need of the team and the demands of the situation and asked him to take a leaf out of Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Steven Smith's books.
"You've got to evolve with the game no matter how big a player you are. The same applies to Virat Kohli. There's no question about it. You watch around the world, look at players like Joe Root, Steve Smith for that matter Kane Williamson and Kohli himself at certain stages of his career, they all have had to evolve. There are innovations (happening every now and then). There are players who want to up the ante. There's a different template in place at the moment," he concluded.
