India vs England 2021: Vikram Rathour Explains Why Virat Kohli Batted At No.4 In The 3rd T20I

Indian batting coach Vikram Rathour that captain Virat Kohli coming out to bat at the No.4 spot in the third T20I was a part of experimentation with the batting-unit that the team management is looking to do ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup.

With Rohit Sharma making a comeback to the playing 11 after having rested in the first two games and KL Rahul opening the batting with him, Ishan Kishan was demoted to the No.3 spot followed by Virat Kohli at No.4.

Kohli, however, came out to bat in just the 5th over after Team India lost both their openers to Mark Wood. The Indian captain proceeded to display a masterclass on how to bat on what was a difficult surface as he smashed a whirlwind 46-ball 77 to help his team post a respectable total of 6/156.

Speaking in the press-conference Vikram Rathour said that Virat coming in at No.4 isn’t a long-term thing as the team is just trying out a few things before the T20 World Cup.

“Nothing is long-term, we are just experimenting. I think this could be the last series and the last few T20 games before the World Cup. So we are just experimenting a little and trying few options. And we’ll see where Virat needs to bat. He’s somebody, with his experience, he can bat at any number. We will see during the World Cup where the team needs him to bat,” said Vikram Rahour.

Rathour further added that the experimentations that the team intends to do in the next couple of games haven’t been decided just yet.

“That’s the discussion [about experimenting in the remaining games] I don’t think the team management has had so far. So we’ll see, we have a day to go to the match. I think the discussion will take place tomorrow and we’ll see what is that we need at this stage,” Vikram Rathour.

As far as Virat Kohli is concerned, the Indian captain has batted at No.4 on 14 instances, scoring 422 runs at an average of 42.20 and a strike-rate of 144.52.

Also Read- Three Failures Does Not Change The Fact That KL Rahul Is Maybe Our Best Batsman In T20 Format – Batting Coach Vikram Rathour