No. 4 slot has been an issue for long time: Indian skipper Rohit Sharma

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma on Thursday stated no batter has succeeded in settling into the vital number four slot in the Indian ODI team since the retirement of Yuvraj SinghWith the ODI World Cup 2023 less than two months away India are struggling to find a batter for the No 4 slot something that also troubled them in the 2019 World CupShreyas Iyer who is on a comeback trail after a long injury layoff did well in his 20 matches at No 4 scoring 805 runs at 4735 with two centuries and five fiftiesLook No 4 has been an issue for us for a long time After Yuvi Yuvraj Singh nobody has come and settled themselves inBut for a long period of time Shreyas Iyer has actually batted at No 4 and he has done well his numbers are really good Rohit told reporters on the sidelines of a La Liga event hereUnfortunately injuries have given him a bit of trouble he has been out for a while and that is honestly what has happened in the last 45 years A lot of these guys have got injured and you will always see a new guy coming and playing there he saidThe India captain said that injuries to players in key positions has hampered the team in the longer run leading to experimentationThe percentage of injuries that have happened in the last 45 years it is massive When the players get injured or are not available you try doing different things with different players that is what I have to say about No 4 he saidEven before when I was not the captain I was watching There were so many guys who came in and went out But injuries kept them away or they were not available or someone lost form Rohit addedAlso Read ODI World Cup 2023 calling is Team India really readyWith both KL Rahul Indias preferred option for No 5 as wicketkeeperbatter and Iyer on comeback trail Rohit said they will wait and watch how these two players goNo one is an automatic selection even I am not We have this thing where nobody is guaranteed a spot We cannot say that you are there after all or things like that Rohit saidYes some players know that they are going to play but at this point in time playing three ODIs in the West Indies was a good opportunity to look at a few guys In the Asia Cup again we will face good opposition he saidThe Asia Cup is scheduled to be held from August 30 to September 17 just before the World CupShreyas and KL are coming off not playing anything for four months big injuries surgeries rather Both had surgeries I know I had to undergo surgery once and how it feels afterwards it is quite tough We have to see how they respond what they doThe selection meeting will be there in a few days we will have a good debate about what we can do But honestly nobody is an automatic choice they all have to fight for the spot everyone has to whether it is a top spot or a bottom spotWe have got a lot of names there We will see what is right combination for us to go in the World Cup but before we have the Asia Cup the India skipper saidRohit said he wants some of the Indian players to bat under pressure situations in the Asia CupWe will see we want to win but at the same time there are a lot of questions that we need answers of But in the Asia Cup I want to see some of the guys batting under pressure against quality teams he saidI still want to see those things so we will wait and see what happens but it is always nice to have a lot of names rather than just one or two names I hope they are fit in time firstly that is the most importantThey Rahul and Iyer have been at the NCA for the last four months working really hard and it looks quite positive so we will keep our fingers crossed Rohit addedWith PTI inputs