South Africa vs India 2018: 5 reasons to watch the ODI series

#4 Is Rahane the solution to India’s No. 4 experiment

Ajinkya Rahane will look to cement his spot at No. 4 in the Indian ODI side

Ajinkya Rahane has been in the news for having been controversially dropped from the playing 11 in the first 2 Tests against South Africa.

Having made a successful comeback in the last Test match, Rahane once again underlined his value as a technically accomplished batsman in testing overseas conditions. With India set to play in South Africa, England and Australia over the next few months and with the 2019 World Cup in England just under 17 months away, skipper Virat Kohli has indicated returning back to Rahane as the No. 4 batsman in the Indian ODI side.

Since the 2015 World Cup, India have tried as many as 10 players in the No. 4 position: Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, M. S. Dhoni, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary, Virat Kohli, Kedar Jadhav and K. L. Rahul.

Vying for the No. 4 position in this series we have Shreyas Iyer in addition to the usual suspects - Rahane, Karthik, Pandya, Dhoni and Jadhav. By the end of the series, India will be hoping to have identified a long-term No. 4 thereby solving this key problem area for the one-day unit.