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Team India was short of a No.4 batsman in the 2019 World Cup, after which the team’s former head coach and player Ravi Shastri recently revealed that he had a long-running dispute with the then chief selector MSK Prasad. Shastri said that at that time we were thinking of sending Virat Kohli at number four. Ahead of the team selection for Asia Cup 2023, Shastri reiterated this once again and explained why Virat Kohli could be sent at No.4. Team India captain Rohit Sharma was also worried about the number-4 position. He himself admitted that after Yuvraj Singh, Team India has not got a permanent name for this batting order. Amidst all this, the former cricketer of Team India, Sanjay Manjrekar, has also kept his word whether to send Virat at number-4 or not. Manjrekar feels that such a mess should not happen with Virat’s batting order. Not only this, Sanjay Manjrekar also recalled the 2007 ICC ODI World Cup, in which Sachin Tendulkar was a flop and India did not even make it to the knockouts.
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In the 2007 World Cup, Team India had big names like Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh. The Indian team was considered a strong contender to reach the knockouts of the World Cup before the tournament. In the tournament, the team management broke the opening pair of Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar and sent Tendulkar to bat at number-4. In the two matches that India lost in the league match, Sachin played innings of seven runs and zero runs. Manjrekar criticized suggestions of sending Virat Kohli at No.4 to fit Ishan Kishan in the batting order ahead of the 2023 World Cup.
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Manjrekar said, ‘The more there is talk of fitting a player like Ishan Kishan into the batting order, the more Virat will feel out of place. He seems to have become a scapegoat, you put him in batting at number-4 and all problems are over. There have been similar problems with the Indian team as well. In the 2007 World Cup, Sachin was sent in to bat at number four along with Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell, so that Virender Sehwag could open the innings. But this caused a lot of controversy. So it depends on an experienced player like Virat whether he wants to come in at number four or not, it seems like an easy solution but it can create trouble for Virat.