Virat Kohli on Ambati Rayudu: The Indian captain spoke highly about Rayudu, stating him to be India’s ODI No. 4 for the World Cup.
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Finding the ideal player for India’s No. 4 spot in the ODIs was one of the major concerns for the team ahead of the Asia Cup. Apart from winning the tournament, they have also come close in solving their conundrum.
Going by Indian captain Virat Kohli’s latest press conference, it seems as if the team management have all but finalised on the No. 4 spot. Kohli signaled out Ambati Rayudu to bat at No. 4 in the upcoming matches for according to the captain, the team management believes Rayudu is the right person to “capitalise on the spot”.
In six Asia Cup matches, Rayudu had scored 175 runs at an average of 43.75 and a strike rate of 80.27. Numbers might not be sounding out of the box but surely make him worthy of getting more chances in the ODI series starting against Windies tomorrow.
“The only position we were trying to figure out was number four for a long time. We tried many players who unfortunately could not capitalise or cement their places in a way we wanted. With Rayudu coming in and playing well in the Asia Cup, it’s about giving him enough game time till the World Cup so that the particular slot will be sorted for us,” Kohli was quoted.
“We believe he is the right person to capitalise on that spot. He is experienced and has won many games for his state and also in the IPL. He has a great ODI record already for India. I think the batting order is sorted,” Kohli said.
“The team felt there — and I also watched him — that he (Rayudu) is designed to play that middle order batsman’s role. We feel that our middle-order is more or less balanced now,” Kohli added about Rayudu’s performance in the Asia Cup.
In 40 ODIs, Rayudu has scored 1,230 runs at an average of 49.20 and a strike rate of 76.82. Rayudu was unfortunate in the first place to lose his position in the spot. With things looking settled than before now, he might just be the answer to India’s problems. Having said that, it is still vital to give him more chances and observe his performance before making anything official.
India have another 18 games to play before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Kohli said that the team management is looking for the ‘perfect combination’ and aims at building it sooner rather than later.
“Now these 18 games would be to find the perfect combination that we want to take into the World Cup. Barring injuries or niggles, we want one combination to play through and through. Apart from bowlers resting here and there in the ODIs, we only changed the No. 4 slot because we wanted someone to cement the place,” Kohli concluded.
Below are some of the recent Twitter reactions regarding the first ODI between India and Windies at Guwahati tomorrow:
