‘Kohli has become a scapegoat’: Former India stars shut Ravi Shastri’s No.4 idea

With India struggling to get a perfect batsman for the No.4 position ahead of the ODI World Cup, former head coach and all-rounder Ravi Shastri has suggested that star batsman Virat Kohli should bat at the crucial position to give solidarity to the batting order.

However, former batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has shut the theory. As per Manjrekar, the iconic player seems to have become the ‘scapegoat’ amid experts trying to explore fitting other options like Ishan Kishan in the lineup.

“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,” said Manjrekar during an interview.

The former batsman also gave Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s example which backfired India in 2007 World Cup.

“In 2007 World Cup when the team management of Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell sent Sachin at No.4 instead of opening because they had people like Virender Sehwag and others at the top of the order. However, 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,” said Manjrekar.

Former speedster Dodda Ganesh also wrote on similar lines.

“Your best batter should bat at his customary position where he’s had all the success. Not a fan of Kohli batting at no 4 just because the team couldn’t find a batter for these many years. Remember, what happened in 2007 WC where Sachin was asked to bat at 4,” tweeted Ganesh.