Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar reminded Ravi Shastri about legendary Sachin Tendulkar moving down the order during the 2007 ODI World Cup on his suggestion of moving Virat Kohli to the No.4 spot for the mega event in India.
Despite having a formidable squad with the most iconic players, India failed to make it past the group stage in the 2007 World Cup, as many decisions of the Indian team management came under the scanner, as they tinkered with their top order going into the mega event in the West Indies.
Speaking in a discussion in Star Sports, Sanjay Manjrekar feels that the suggestion of moving Ishan Kishan to the top of the order has more to disturb with the best spot (N0.3) of Virat Kohli in ODI cricket and recalled India’s one of the worst show in the mega event in 2007, where they tinkered the batting order, which invited huge criticism during that time.
“The more and more you talk about other options like Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli seems to get relegated. He has sort of become the scapegoat in the sense that you bat him at No.4 and all your problems are solved,” Sanjay Manjrekar said.
“There is also a cultural issue in Indian cricket. In the 2007 World Cup when the team management of Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell sent Tendulkar to No.4 instead of opening because they had people like Virender Sehwag and others at the top of the order.
“But that became a huge controversy. So it is really up to Kohli, an iconic player, on whether he wants to bat at No.4. It seems like a perfectly simple solution, but it concerns Kohli,” Sanjay Manjrekar added.
Virat Kohli is a brilliant batter across the three formats of the game, his domination in the 50-over format has been of a different level altogether. The 34-year-old has returned to his usual best as he smashed three ODI hundreds in 2023 and would continue his form in ODI Cricket ahead of the important Asia Cup and ODI World Cup.
India’s batting order will get a clear picture in the Asia Cup 2023, as it will help to field their best playing 11 for the continental event. Rohit Sharma-led side won their last Asia Cup in 2018 and they failed to reach the finals of the continental event in 2022. The team will be pumped to win the event, which can be a good confidence booster for the team going into the ODI World Cup in India.