Don’t think Ishan Kishan…: Ex-AUS bowler picks 20-year-old for No. 4 spot for India in Rahul, Iyer’s absence

Team India find themselves in a tricky place with the middle order since two of their first-choice players are currently facing the race against time to be fit for the World Cup. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul have been pillars for India in ODIs in 4th and 5th positions for the last few years but their long absence has put plans for India in jeopardy ahead of the marquee event. The team management tried the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Sanju Samson but none of them have been able to make the spot their own.

Ishan Kishan did well but while opening the innings and if any of Iyer or Rahul misses out on participation in the World Cup, the Indian team might not have an able replacement. While many have urged the team management to play Kishan in the middle order, some have suggested they persist with Samson. But since Tilak Varma’s emergence in T20Is, his name has suddenly been pushed for the spot. But will it happen?

After several former Indian cricketers, ex-Australian spinner Brad Hogg has picked Tilak as the ideal replacement for Iyer or Rahul in the middle-order for the World Cup while expressing his reservations about Kishan batting in the middle-order.

Speaking on the topic in a video he posted on Instagram, Hogg said, “If they’re (Iyer and Rahul) not fit, we need a keeper in this team. I don’t think Ishan Kishan can bat lower down the order. I think he is predominantly an opener.

“If they open with Kishan and Rohit Sharma, I would have Tilak Varma coming in at No. 4. He has hardly played any one-day cricket. But the way he has operated in T20 cricket shows that he has got the goods for any situation,” he added.

Hogg further suggested that if India don’t find a place for Ishan Kishan as an opener then Sanju Samson can be tried as the wicketkeeper as he will also fulfill the role in the middle order. “If they go with Gill and Rohit Sharma at the top of the order with Sanju Samson at No. 4 as the Indian keeper going into that World Cup. I think he can offer something substantial in that position,” he further added.

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