World Cup 2019: No more No. 4 conundrum in Indian cricket team

KL Rahul en route his 108 against Bangladesh during their World Cup warm-up match at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff yesterday. Pic/AFP

When KL Rahul is in full flow, he looks a class apart. But his problem is he lacks consistency. For that reason he has been in and out of the Indian team. In fact, more out than in. The good thing about him is that he is very flexible - capable of batting at any position. This, and his form in the IPL ensured him a berth in the World Cup squad.

When chief selector MSK Prasad announced the squad for the World Cup, he had earmarked Rahul as a back-up opener for Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. That surely narrowed down his utility in the team, especially as Prasad strongly felt that Vijay Shankar was an ideal choice at No. 4.

It is difficult to say whether the team management was convinced by the chief selector's choice. But, the injury to Shankar in the nets before the first warm-up game, left the field open and Rahul was tried out at No. 4. And boy, he grabbed that opportunity with both hands.

His superb century against Bangladesh in the second warm-up game here yesterday could not have come at a better time for him personally and for the team and has also virtually settled the contentious issue. There is little doubt that it will be Rahul who will follow Dhawan, Rohit and Kohli in the batting order in the opening World Cup match against South Africa on June 5.

Despite the huge debate in the media about the No. 4 spot, the team management, it seems, had been cool about the whole issue. "We are not losing sleep over No. 4. In today's cricket a batsman needs to be flexible. You cannot tag a batsman to a particular position. The form of the batsman and the situation of the match determines the batting line-up," India skipper Virat Kohli had said at the pre-event media meet.

There is no doubt that going into the tournament the team management has an open mind about the playing XI and did not want to restrict the players by bogging them down to a particular role in the team.

Though Prasad had strongly recommended Shankar as the best bet at No. 4 and backed him by calling him a three-dimensional player - a decent batsman, a brilliant fielder and a handy medium pace bowler, there is no doubt that the team management's priority was to have a strong batsman at No. 4 rather than a bits-and-pieces player. And thankfully for them Rahul has come good at the right time to settle the issue, at least for the time being.

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