England tour: Vote goes to K.L. Rahul to fill Kohli's number four spot

A day after somewhat abruptly on his Test career, the burning question that will now raise a storm in the teacup is who takes up his number four position. It’s a quandary similar to the situation when Sachin Tendulkar bid farewell to the game in 2013, when a young Kohli gradually made the position his own after back-to-back centuries in Adelaide the very next year.

Just think about this — in the 115 Tests that India has played since Tendulkar’s retirement, Kohli has batted at number four in 99 of them, while the two of them have occupied the no. 4 spot for most of the last 35 years (yes, you read that right). Fortunately for Indian cricket, the batting lineage over the last half-a-century meant that there was never a vacuum for long.        

Speaking to ESPNcricnfo on Tuesday, Cheteshwar Pujara, who slid smoothly into the no. 3 position after Rahul Dravid, said: ‘’We will need a couple of series to figure out who is well suited to bat at no. 4 because it’s an important position. You need your best batter to bat at no. 4. And at this time, I think it’s still a spot for which the team management will have to figure out who is the most suited...’’

However, Gautam Gambhir & Co. have just a little over a month to decide an incumbent for that spot as also Rohit Sharma’s position at the top of the order before the first Test against England. My vote goes to K.L. Rahul, the senior pro who has for long enough been shunted from the opening slot to anywhere between numbers four and six, and who should now be given pride of place for the remainder of his career.

It’s been more than a decade that Rahul made the Test squad for the 2014 tour of Australia and at 33, he is at the peak of his career. On the last tour of England, the composed Bangalorean showed what it takes to thrive in England, playing it late and close to the body as he scored a painstaking 129 as an opener at Lord’s. There could be a suggestion from some quarters to use him as an opener again with Yashasvi Jaiswal, but it’s time to find a long-term solution up the order.

The other potential candidate could be Shubman Gill, in line to take over the Test captaincy from the upcoming tour. Used to the one-drop position, Gill is yet to match his exploits on Indian soil to those in overseas conditions, and it could be a viable option to try him in that position with Rahul following at no. 5.

Where does this leave Shreyas Iyer? After falling out of favour and being dropped from the central contracts list in the first half of 2024, Shreyas had been in a great mind space in the white-ball game. He acquitted himself well in the limited red-ball opportunities in the absence of the ‘Big Two’ in the past and what’s more, looks more decisive against the short ball now. However, he could be a good bet at no. 5 if Rahul occupies four, since an England tour is no time for too many experiments.

Sarfaraz Khan: Out of favour?

Intriguingly enough, Sarfaraz Khan — who made an impressive debut against England at home in 2024 — does not seem to enjoy the confidence of the team management. A part of the tour of Australia, Sarfaraz almost served as a passenger throughout the tour and, if rumour mills are to be believed, Gambhir had accused him of ‘leaking dressing room information’ in a feedback meeting with the BCCI top brass.

Can there be a surprise package in the role? Karun Nair, India’s only other triple centurion in Tests apart from Virender Sehwag, has been living a dream in the last domestic season for his adopted state Vidarbha, and is expected to make a welcome return to the Indian dressing room. However, there is only an outside chance that the experienced batter will get the nod ahead of someone like Rahul.