I think Virat is perfect for No. 4 – AB de Villiers shares his opinion on India’s ideal batting order

There has been a lot of speculation about who should be India’s No.4 for the upcoming World Cup and as things stand, two of the most brilliant cricketing minds have even touted Virat Kohli as a possible contender, considering his dazzling numbers at the position.

Now echoing the sentiment of Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar, AB de Villiers, Virat’s former teammate at RCB and a very close friend, is in favour of seeing the erstwhile India skipper take up the mantle at the much talked about No.4 position. He also shared his own rationale behind making this crucial call.

Talking on the 360 show, ABD said, “We're still talking about who will be the No. 4 batter for India. I've heard some rumours about Virat possibly taking up that position. I would be a big supporter of that. I think Virat is perfect for No. 4. He can put the innings together, play any kind of role in that middle order. I don't know if he would like to do that. We know he loves his No. 3 position; he's scored all his runs there, but at the end of the day, if the team needs you to do something, play a certain role, you have got to put your hand up and go for it."

Kohli’s statistics at No.4 seems to be pretty solid, which reads 1767 runs at an average of 55.21. He has also struck seven ODI hundreds at number four, which bolsters the argument in favour of Kohli probably coming in slightly late. Another key point that was pointed out by Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri was that in case the new ball is doing too much damage, Kohli can buy some time before he comes out as that takes the sheen off the new cherry.

When the Indian squad was announced for Asia cup, Rohit Sharma made it very clear that every player has to be versatile enough and cannot highlight a particular position that they are comfortable in. He said it loud and clear that according to the situation, the batting order will be rotated.

Rohit said, “No one should say, 'I'm good at this position or I'm good at that position'. You want guys to be able to bat anywhere, that's the message conveyed to every individual. Not now, but over the last three-four years.”

Only time shall reveal whether Kohli retains his favourite No.3 position or go back to the days of him batting at No.4 where he racked up quite impressive numbers in the shorter version of the game.