India Number Four Conundrum: Dinesh Karthik On Possible Options For The Spot

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Team India has struggled to fill the number 4 slot in One Day Internationals ever since Yuvraj Singh retired from the sport, but wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik feels there already good options in the current squad to fill the void.

Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul were used in the number four slot till they were injured earlier this year, while the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Sanju Samson have all been tested in the position in the 50-over format.

While Suryakumar, who has been a sensation in T20I, failed with two first ball ducks, Pandya and Axar to failed when they batted at number 4 in West Indies, where Samson alone scored a fifty batting in the worrisome position heading into the Asia Cup, which will be followed by the World Cup.

Samson, however, has only been named as a reserve for the Asia Cup with Iyer and Rahul being handed a return as well as Suryakumar retaining his spot. One other name that could be used in the slot is the young Tilak Varma, who has shown his ability to play pressure situations.

Karthik has been amazed by how quickly Varma has adapted to international cricket and believes the youngster must be considered to fill the crucial No.4 spot at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.

Varma showed his immense promise when amassing 343 runs for the Mumbai Indians at the IPL earlier this year and further built on those efforts by making an outstanding start to his international career during India's recent white-ball series against the West Indies.

The 20-year-old appeared in all five T20I matches India contested, scoring 173 runs in his first international series and catching the eye of Karthik with his versatility to adapt the way he plays to the situation of the game.

"I was very impressed with Tilak Varma," Karthik said during a Cricket World Cup commercial shoot with Emirates. "I think he showed different sorts of temperament to his batting at times he went all guns blazing up the order.

"Then there was a game where he had to finish it off with Hardik Pandya and he did that as well. More important is that he can add off-spin and we have not had somebody who can roll their arm over so that makes that player very special."

While Varma has many things like a left handed option and ability to bowl, the youngster may face competition for the spot from the likes of Suryakumar and Iyer as well as few more players, according to Karthik, who believes Suryakumar can't be written off.

"Do we need a left hander? Do we look at Tilak Varma or is Suryakumar (Yadav) that option," Karthik pondered. "Is it wrong to say he (Suryakumar) is just a right-hander because he plays all the types of sweeps that are available in the game and makes it really hard for the spinners."

Suryakumar and Varma are good options to have, but Karthik feels if Iyer is fit, then he is the number one choice to bat at number 4 for India at the World Cup and Asia Cup, but also suggested all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja could bat there if left-handed option was needed.

"I think Shreyas Iyer is the right player given his form and the scores he put together over the last eight months before getting injured," Karthik said. "He has probably been the in-form batter at No.4, but with that there is going to be a small issue.

"India is going to be filled with right handers with six out of the top seven (being) right handers and (Ravindra) Jadeja is at No.7, so can Jadeja bat that little bit higher to bring that left-hand, right hand combination that is a big question mark for India."

"Because leading into the World Cup we are going to find pitches that take spin and you are going to need left handers and where does India stand with six right handers in that top seven."

India will very little chance to experiment now with only the Asia Cup, the Australia series and couple of Warm up matches before the show-piece event in October-November.