India's No.4 concerns in batting order in ODIs

The history tells that India is a country where batsmen outperforms the bowlers more often than not. Having said that there is usually very small margin of error for the bowlers on rather slow wickets in the country, which make life difficult for the bowlers to be consistent. Nevertheless, it is by no means that the bowlers do not contribute to the team's victories, they do as well. But India have a rich history of scoring big runs and dominating the opposition in many games over the years. 

 

Yuvraj Singh had Scored 3415 runs @35.21 batting at No.4

India have had many good batsmen in the past, batting in the middle order. Be it Rahul Dravid, be it Yuvraj Singh, or Suresh Raina, the No. 4 position got the best out of them. That was the reason for team India's success during that time. But post the retirements of Dravid and Yuvraj, and a slump in form for Raina which forced his way out of the team, India suffered badly without a proper No. 4 batsman, especially during some big ICC tournaments. 

Speculations were up there when M.S. Dhoni quit captaincy in early 2017, that he would be the man who will fit to the No.4 role. He is highly successful, and one of the best few in the whole world when it comes to soaking the pressure during the course of the game, especially during the middle overs. Even Kohli tried Dhoni in a few games initially at No. 4 keeping in mind his vast experience which would guide the youngsters batting around him. But probably Dhoni himself felt that he is best suited for finishing role rather than at No. 4 where there can be many other options. I think this was the reason why Kohli had to opt for too many experiments when it came to No.4 in India's ODI set up as the things were not going well post the retirement of Yuvraj, and Raina's poor run of form. However, Kohli knew that he had so many options to go for in the players who were performing well in India's domestic circuit. In-fact, since World Cup 2015 India tried 12 different players for the no. 4 roles which included the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu. None of them were as successful as Kohli or the management would have wanted, and which is still a big question for team India.

Here is the list of players who were tried at No.4 after 2015 World Cup:

Going into the World Cup 2019, India had 3 options: Karthik, Shankar or KL Rahul. But, unfortunately Shikhar Dhawan broke his thumb in the game against Australia, where he scored a brilliant century in what was India's 2nd consecutive win of the World Cup. Injury to Dhawan in that match meant that he would no more take part further in the tournament and that KL Rahul needs to open with Rohit. Soon after, the injury to Vijay Shankar meant that India were forced to make some changes in their middle order where they required to fit Karthik or Pant according to the situation. Hence, the concerns of no. 4 were still hovering around which was also the evident in the Indian middle order's dismal performance in the semi-final against New Zealand which eventually brought their downfall from the tournament.

    Dinesh Karthik did reasonably well although he didn't get much opportunities at No. 4

 

Why is such a scenario?

As per my point of view, there are a few reasons which India need to figure out. First of all, it is highly likely that every aspirant batsman in the country wants to bat in the top order which makes it difficult for the selectors to choose best suitable options for No. 4 because there aren't too many options left. India should try selecting a batsman whose average is 35 and is actually batting at No. 4 in domestic, rather than a batsman whose Avg. is 45+ but he is batting as an opener or at No.3. Sanju Samson is a very promising guy who can be fit in the role. Even coming to the latest situation where Kohli tried Shreyas Iyer in the NZ tour during the start of this year and he was very successful in that tour. Opportunities play a vital role in any players evolvement. In such a case, the talent which Shreyas Iyer has, India should always go for him further. The batsmen batting at No.4 are actually made by gaining experience by more and more opportunities they get. E.g.  Ross Taylor, who is very successful at no.4 in NZ batting set up. The other being Eoin Morgan & Faf Du Plessis for their respective teams. So, these are all the players who established themselves at no.4 by utilizing whatever opportunity they got. 

Moreover, most of the batsmen in our country have the same frame in mind as of an opening batsman, go out there and play your shots with fielding restrictions on, rather than to think what if the score is 10 for 2 from 4-5 overs or may be 60 for 2 from 15 overs. So, we are more and more seeing the cases where a well set top order batsman goes for a slog in the middle overs when spinner is bowling and holes out in the deep, because he has that frame of mind as an opener. But if he would have been sent in the middle overs when the score may be reading 70 for 2 from 18 overs, and when the slower bowlers are bowling tough overs with no fielding restrictions, then there he needs to adapt to the situation quickly, soak up the pressure, determine the pace at which the runs need to be scored and how well he can build the partnership to get the game deep. Hence, there are a lot more things involved apart from risk taking. There should be a lot more composure, a lot more resilience, and I think Iyer has got all of these qualities as a No. 4 batsman and we hope that India have found their man in him, and hopefully he gets chances and India would overcome this "No.4" concerns in ODIs.

Thanks

Rahul