South Africa vs India 2018: Why Rahane should remain No. 4 until the 2019 World Cup

Making No 4 his own

Several players have been tried at no 4 and eventually discarded

Realizing the team's weakness at no 4, Kohli said at the pre-match press conference, "We have explored many options in the last few months. India don't have too many series, or too much time left before the World Cup, so they will want to explore all the options before the World Cup.

I had said earlier that Ajinkya Rahane would be looked at as a third opener, but that situation can change because he has batted at No. 4 in a World Cup (in 2015) before. These conditions are such that you get to play fast bowling throughout the innings so he becomes a strong candidate for no 4.

The likes of Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, KL Rahul, and Yuvraj Singh have not been able to make the no 4 spot their own. On the contrary, India's Test vice-captain Rahane has struck consecutive half centuries in his last five appearances at no 4 with scores of 79, 50, 89, 87 and 47.