"There's Virat Kohli, there's Shreyas Iyer, there's KL Rahul" - When a former captain downplayed India's No. 4 conundrum in ODIs

For some reason, the No. 4 position has often been a matter of debate with regard to the Indian one-day team. There was uncertainty over the position ahead of the 2019 World Cup and the 2023 edition as well. While the Men in Blue suffered due poor selection choices in 2019, Shreyas Iyer did a fantastic job for them in 2023.

Shreyas had a poor series in Sri Lanka in 2024, but that was the case with most other Indian batters during the three one-dayers in the island nation. He is expected to retain his No. 4 position when the Men in Blue take on England at home in a three-match ODI series ahead of the Champions Trophy.

Back in 2023, former India captain Sourav Ganguly joined the debate on the No. 4 position in ODIs. He downplayed the discussion and stated that No. 4 was just a number. According to Ganguly, any one from Virat Kohli, Iyer or KL Rahul could occupy the two-down slot in one-day cricket.

Speaking about his own batting position and that of Sachin Tendulkar, Ganguly said (as quoted by ESPNcricinfo):

"No. 4 is just a number, anyone can fit in. I really don't think that anybody is born as an opener or No. 3 or No. 4. I had started in the middle order in one-day cricket and was asked to open when Sachin [Tendulkar] was the captain. Sachin also started at No. 6; when he opened, he became a world-class player.

"So anybody can play at No. 4. There's Virat Kohli for No. 4; there's Shreyas Iyer, there's KL Rahul. India has enormous talent. I keep getting asked that we don't have this, we don't have that, but I think we have too much; that's the problem. One batting slot doesn't make so much of a difference... There's no hard-and-fast rule that you need someone at No. 4," he added.

Batting at No. 4 for Team India in the 2023 World Cup, Shreyas notched up 530 runs in 11 innings at an average of 66.25, with two hundreds and three fifties.

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Shreyas, Rahul and Kohli's record at No. 4 in ODIs

Shreyas has batted at No. 4 in one-dayers 33 times and has scored 1,397 runs at an average of 51.74 and a strike rate of 101.74, with four tons and eight fifties. In 39 innings at the two-down slot, Kohli has 1,767 runs at an average of 55.21 and a strike rate of 90.66, with seven tons and eight half-centuries.

Looking at Rahul's numbers at the same batting slot, he has scored 558 runs from 13 innings at an average of 55.80 and a strike rate of 86.78. The 32-year-old has two hundreds and three fifties to his credit while batting at No. 4 in ODIs.