India captain Virat Kohli said on Wednesday that the team will continue to experiment in the middle order in their hunt to find an ideal No 4 for One-Day Internationals. The 29-year-old however admitted that the conditions in England where the 2019 World Cup will be held next year would make Ajinkya Rahane a good candidate.
Kohli was happy with how the team was shaping up for the World Cup, which is less than 18 months away. The skipper said that the team intends to explore all possible options for the crucial No 4 position before the World Cup, starting with the South Africa series.
India’s lower middle order is more or less sorted, with Hardik Pandya, Kedar Jadhav and MS Dhoni rotating and batting together, Kohli said in his press conference ahead of the six-match ODI series against South Africa starting on Thursday at Durban. “No 4 is something we have experimented with in the last couple of series. That is the only spot I can see that needs to be solidified otherwise the team looks pretty balanced.”
He added, “I had said earlier that Ajinkya will be looked at as a third opener, but that situation can change because he has batted at No 4 in a World Cup before. These conditions are such that you get to play fast bowling throughout the innings so [Rahane] becomes a strong candidate for No 4.
“Other than him we have Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey. We don’t want to be one-dimensional. It depends whose technique is more suited to what spot especially in that particular country. All options are open.”
Batting positions in India’s middle order are not fixed, the skipper said, and would depend on the conditions. “It is about finding players who fit a particular spot better in certain conditions,” said Kohli. “That will be our mindset. We will play the World Cup in England, which will be very different to what we get in India. People who might be doing well at home might not necessarily repeat their performances in England. It’s very different.”
Kohli does not believe the quality of the Indian team will be compromised in any way regardless of who plays at No 4 “because we have strong batsmen above and below to stabilise the innings”. Before picking a player, the character is given more importance than skills, he added.
Looking for game-changers
“For us as team management, and myself, we look at characters before we look at skill. We look at a guy who scored 40 when the team needed it the most. Compared to a guy who has scored runs but they might not have affected the state of the game that much.”
He added, “We look for game-changers, we look for guys who embrace pressure, we look for guys who want to be in difficult situations because in one-day cricket you don’t have another day to come back and do something extra. You have to make decisions there and then.”
On the South Africa ODIs, Kohli said that he was expecting a lot out of India’s two wrist spinners, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav. “We are one of the few teams, or probably the only team in world cricket, to be blessed with two wrist spinners, while Kedar Jadhav is doing the conventional job pretty well for the team,” Kohli said.
“Wrist spinners help you in any conditions in the world. Wrist spinners can go for six an over but they will pick you three wickets as well, which is eventually the difference in the game,” he added.
Kohli’s team will be looking to correct India’s poor record in South Africa, where they have won only five out of 27 ODIs against the hosts. India have also never won an ODI series in South Africa. “We obviously want to win every series that we play.” Kohli said. “Thinking of records or doing something that hasn’t been done before is not something you think of before achieving it. It just adds extra pressure, which is not needed.”
Kohli said that India will take confidence from the Wanderers Test win. “As batsmen, obviously, everyone is looking forward to stepping up,” he said. “Like in the last Test how we believed in ourselves and ended up winning the Test. We have to carry the same belief throughout this series.”
Kohli expects the pitches to be more batting friendly in the ODI series compared to the Tests, adding that the surface at Durban for the first match “looks pretty balanced I would say for a good game of cricket”.