The riddle of no.4 spot in ODIs for the Indian side is yet to be solved. Over the years, several players have been tested at this spot. While many failed, few showed promise but a couple of injuries have left Team India looking for a batter to play the important role less than a couple of months later. India's ODI skipper Rohit Sharma has admitted that it has been an issue and said that no batter has solidified his spot since the legendary all-rounder Yuvraj Singh's retirement.
“Look, No. 4 has been an issue for us for a long time. After Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh), nobody has come and settled themselves in.
“But, for a long period of time, Shreyas (Iyer) has actually batted at No. 4 and he has done well — his numbers are really good,” Rohit told reporters on the sidelines of a La Liga event here.
“Unfortunately, injuries have given him a bit of trouble; he has been out for a while and that is honestly what has happened in the last 4-5 years. A lot of these guys have got injured and you will always see a new guy coming and playing there,” he said.
Shreyas Iyer has been the top performer for India at no.4 scoring 805 runs at an average of 47.35 including two centuries and five half-centuries. He is likely to make a comeback soon after recovering from a back injury that kept him out of action for months.
“The percentage of injuries that have happened in the last 4-5 years, it is massive. When the players get injured or are not available, you try doing different things with different players — that is what I have to say about No. 4,” he said.
“Even before, when I was not the captain, I was watching no? There were so many guys who came in and went out. But injuries kept them away or they were not available or someone lost form,” Rohit added.
Along with Iyer, KL Rahul is expected to make a comeback as well. With Asia Cup squad announcement just around the corner, Rohit has said that nobody is guaranteed an automatic spot.
“No one is an automatic (selection), even I am not. We have this thing where nobody is guaranteed a spot. We cannot say that ‘you are there after all’ or things like that,” the 36-year-old said.
“The selection (meeting) will be there in a few days, we will have a good debate about what we can do. But honestly nobody is an automatic choice – they all have to fight for the spot – everyone has to, whether it is a top spot or a bottom spot.”
Ahead of World Cup 2023, Rohit is not afraid to experiment by putting few players in pressure situations in order to test them.
“We will see, we want to win but at the same time there are a lot of questions that we need answers of. But in the Asia Cup, I want to see some of the guys batting under pressure against quality teams,” he said.
“I still want to see those things, so we will wait and see what happens, but it is always nice to have a lot of names, rather than just one or two names. I hope they are fit in time – firstly that is the most important.”
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