HYDERABAD: India captain Virat Kohli is open to moving down to No 4 as India seek to firm up plans ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019.
Speaking on the eve of the first of five ODIs against Australia here, India’s last lot of one-day matches before they arrive in England, on Saturday, Kohli said that such a move, if required, would hardly make a difference to him.
“If that’s the requirement of the team at a particular stage of the game or before a particular game, I’m more than happy to do it,” he said. “I’ve batted a lot of times at No. 4, so I don’t necessarily have to try it out. My game doesn’t change much from No. 3 to 4, because the template is quite similar. In any given situation, I back myself to play the game I know.”
Kohli, however, ruled out tinkering with the bowling combination in a bid to accommodate an extra batsman. With a well-established top-three, India have several contenders vying for the spots between Nos. 4 and 7 in KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni, Rishabh Pant, Kedar Jadhav and Hardik Pandya. The downside of playing Pant at No. 7 would be that unlike Jadhav or Pandya, he can’t be used as a back-up to get in a few extra overs.
Kohli ruled out giving the inexperienced Pant game time at the expense of a bowler.
“We’ll have to think of the combinations. I don’t think playing a bowler less is a good idea, because with the extra fielder in till the 40th over, it’s very difficult to get few guys to chip in with a few overs here and there,” he said. “We’ll have to work around the batting combination to give game time to the guys we want to, but I don’t see the bowling combination changing because of it.” (AGENCIES)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
