The two consecutive defeats of the Indian cricket team in the recent tri-series involving India-Australia and England have sprung up debates regarding the batting order of Virat Kohli. However legendary cricketer Viv Richards felt that Kohli should continue batting at number four despite his temporary failures at ODIs.
Virat Kohli should bat at No. 3 during World Cup, says Viv Richards
Sir Viv Richards is counted amongst one of those legends who follow the game of cricket very closely. He loves attacking cricket and young cricketers, especially the way these cricketers adapt their batting style as per the situation of the game. There is no doubt that Virat Kohli’s batting prowess has pleased the legend very much. Richards said to the media in its recent statement that despite Kohli’s temporary failures in the first two ODI matches, he will play a key role in the upcoming world cup for team India.
A proper batting order is always a contentious issue. Some former cricketers say number three is the best position for any technically sound batsman to bat on in One-dayers while few people opine that number four is the best position for a good batsman. Some of the World’s best one-day Batsmen including Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid and others have always preferred one down position to bat on but batting at fourth position has its own merits and relevance.
Number four is a very crucial position for any team. Every team keeps their best batsman in that position. A batsman at this position dictates the tone of the batting as per the requirement of the team. The position assumes immense importance, especially during the time of chasing a target.
Viv Richards explained that Virat at number three would be a vulnerable choice for team India. On bouncy tracks of Australia and New Zealand there is always a chance of the fall of two or three quick wickets hence Virat at number four can have relatively better chance to take the game forward for a winning cause irrespective of batting first or chasing a total in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
During the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, Virat Kohli has played some good knocks throughout the tournament. In the final match the dashing batsman has supported Gautam Gambhir meticulously to build a solid 83-run partnership for the third wicket that helped India win the trophy after a long gap of 28 years. In that match he scored a crucial 35 run and supported Gambhir well after the loss of Tendulkar and Sehwag in a quick succession.
The God of cricket Sachin Tendulkar has played some of the very memorable knocks at the fourth position in both tests and one-dayers. Amongst these, who can forget his memorable and emotional knock of 140* against Kenya in 1999 World Cup, a couple of days after his father’s sad demise.
Tags: Cricket, ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, ODIs, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Viv Richards, World Cup
