” Martin Guptill picks the ball and it’s a direct hit ”
It was the moment when MS Dhoni got out and millions of Indian cricket team fans got shattered.
New Zealand beat India in the all important Semi Final of World Cup 2019 breaking India’s dream of becoming champions again.
Where did it all started? Where did we fell apart? Lack of solidity in the middle order? Not having a good number 4 batsman?
All the discussions have taken it back to the number 4 debate. Did we ever developed a proper number 4 batsman coming into the World Cup?
The list of players tried for the number 4 spot is endless.
Rishabh Pant
Vijay Shankar
KL Rahul
Kedar Jadhav
Ajinkya Rahane
Dinesh Kartik
Ambati Rayudu
Shreyas Iyer
Manish Pandey and many more.
However neither these players were groomed properly nor were they given enough chances.
A month back Ambati Rayudu looked like a certain number 4 going into the World Cup. However the selectors gave chance to Vijay Shankar and then Rishabh Pant both of whom had played less than 10 matches at the international level which does not make any sense.
When MS Dhoni stepped down from captaincy he wanted to bat at the number 4 spot. However even he didn’t got much chance either.
The situation in World Cup got so bad that the selectors sent Mayank Agarwal into the team. A guy who still hasn’t played his debut match for India.
The whole Dilemma actually resulted into the ouster of Indian Team from World Cup. The selectors, team management and coaching staff failed badly on this particular front.
Going back into the competitive cricket let’s hope selectors take much mature decisions and groom someone for the number 4 spot.
Cricket Vikas 