As the World Cup is just around the corner, team India is still uncertain about the number four position. Who is going to come at number four? The selection committee has this challenge.
The Perfect No.4 is looking almost impossible to get for India for the World Cup that’s less than 50 days away. The options aren’t very minimal nor the talent of batting in India is. The real problem is the options are either recovering from the injury or just having recovered or injured.
India has announced their squad for the Asia Cup 2023, starting from 30 August. The squad includes Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, and Sanju Samson (back up).
Possibilities
This is not a new problem for India, it’s the problem since Yuvraj Singh left India. Even it is the Déjà vu for team India as they faced the same problem in the previous One Day International World Cup. In the World Cup of 2019, their head coach Ravi Shashtri even considered sending Virat Kohli at no. 4.
He also believes that sending Virat Kohli at two-down could be the answer to the trivia of Perfect No.4. But the question arises whether India will change the position of their main batter or not.
Sending Virat at four can create another mess in the team, then the question will be who is going to bat at number three if Virat isn’t there. So initially you are answering one question by creating another question.
Rishabh Pant could have been a great answer to this but unfortunately, he is out of the cricket action for a long period due to the horrific car accident on 30 December of 2022.
Also read: Rishabh Pant’s Comeback: Rumours Proven True?
The Perfect No. 4 for India has to be one of these four cricketers: Surya Kumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer, Tilak Varma, and Sanju Samson.
Tilak Varma
A very strong answer to the query of Perfect No. 4 is Tilak Varma. He is backed by Sourav Ganguly and Sunil Gavaskar. But here is the twist: he is yet to receive the debut call for ODIs. He has played 19 innings of Youth one-dayers and never has batted at No. 4.
Also read:- Saurav Ganguly’s Bold Assertion: India vs Australia Outshines Pakistan vs India
But there is one thing going in his favor: he is left-handed, and India has no one batting left-handed in the middle order.
Surya Kumar Yadav
Surya Kumar Yadav has shown some brilliance in the T20Is but is yet to show in one-day. Surya has batted at number 4 five times and has an agonistic average of six, yup just six.
Will management trust him? Highly unlikely after these numbers.
Ishan Kishan
A talented young man from Patna has the same advantage that Tilak had, that he is a Left-hander also with something extra to offer.
He is a keeper too, and instead of adding to his advantage that is his biggest weakness because either he can play or KL Rahul can play.
He so far has been tested from the opener to the number 4 position, the non-strike opener being his best position with an average of 119. At 4 he averages 21, his least average at any position.
Will you play him at 4?
Shreyas Iyer
He has been included in the squad for the Asia Cup 2023, and he will be returning from the injury. He averages 47.35 at the number 4 position.
He has also played 20 innings at two-down. Seems a very strong contender to play at number four.
Sanju Samson
Another wicket-keeper, to be frank here India India has more wicket-keepers than the batters. Right-handed wicket-keeper is also a strong contender to be Perfect No. 4 for India.
He is not in the squad for Asia Cup 2023 though has been included as a reserve. Talking about stats he has only played one inning so far at the number 4 position and has scored 51.
| Positions | Innings | Average |
| No. 3 | 2 | 27.50 |
| No. 4 | 1 | 51.00 |
| No. 5 | 5 | 52.00 |
| No. 6 | 4 | 90.00 |
Conclusion
We have weighed all the possible contenders to be the Perfect No.4 for team India, Either they are too inexperienced to be there or they haven’t been firing at no.4.
It is a tough call to make that too just before the two main events Asia Cup and World Cup.
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