What is Virat Kohli’s record at No. 4 in ODIs?

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri recently made an interesting revelation when he stated that he had considered sending Virat Kohli at No. 4 during the 2019 ODI World Cup in England. He explained that he felt the top batting line-up was heavy and early wickets could hurt them badly.

Shastri’s worst fears came true in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand in Manchester when India crumbled to 5/3 after being set a target of 240. Despite a commendable lower-order fightback, the Men in Blue went down by 18 runs, losing yet another ICC knockout match.

While discussing Kohli’s batting position in one-dayers, Shastri opined that the 34-year-old can bat at the No. 4 slot if the team needs him there.

"If Virat has to bat at four, he will bat at four in the interest of the side. You know, there were times I thought of it. Even in the previous two World Cups, when I was coach in 2019, I thought I might have discussed that with MSK [Prasad] as well of him batting at four just to break that top heavy line-up,” he told Star Sports.

Kohli has batted at the pivotal No. 3 position in ODIs for the majority of his international career.

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How Virat Kohli has fared at No. 4 in ODIs?

In the wake of Shastri’s comments, we take a closer look at Kohli’s record at No. 4 in ODIs. The 34-year-old has come into bat at No. 4 a total of 42 times in ODIs. In these games, he has scored 1767 runs at an average of 55.21, with seven hundreds. His highest of 139* while batting at the No. 4 position came against Sri Lanka in Ranchi in November 2014.

Incidentally, his famous knock of 133* off 86 balls against Sri Lanka in Hobart in February 2012 also came while he batted at the No. 4 spot. However, since the start of 2019, the former India captain has batted only twice at the No. 4 slot. He scored seven against Australia in March 2019 and 16 against the same opponents in Mumbai in January 2020.

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Why has there been a debate over Kohli at No. 4 in ODIs?

Team India haven’t found a settled No. 4 batter in ODIs since Yuvraj Singh's exit. Shreyas Iyer has been the most prolific batter at the spot in recent times.

Since making his ODI debut for India, he has batted at No. 4 in 20 innings. Shreyas has scored 805 runs at an average of 47.35, with two hundreds and five fifties. However, he has been out of action due to a back injury since March this year. There is uncertainty over his availability for the Asia Cup and the World Cup.

KL Rahul is another option Team India can explore at the two-down position in ODIs. However, there are doubts about his fitness as well. As for Suryakumar Yadav, he has hardly done anything in the format to inspire the confidence of the team management and selectors.

Is there then an outside chance of Kohli batting at No. 4 in ODIs? Only time will tell.