‘He will not come at No. 3’ – Mohammad Kaif picks India’s batting line-up ahead of series vs England

Mohammad Kaif shared his two cents on India’s batting line-up ahead of the T20I series against England next month. The Men in Blue will be playing five T20Is and three ODIs against the Three Lions in the United Kingdom next month.

In the ongoing three-match ODI series between India and Afghanistan, Ishan Kishan has done well with the bat, continuing his stellar form from the IPL. He might not have played any game in the series if Virat Kohli had not been ruled out due to a hamstring injury. However, now that Kishan has performed impressively with the bat, there has been a debate on whether Kohli’s place in the side is under threat during the England tour. However, Kaif believes that as long as the former India captain is in the squad, no one will be able to bench him.

The former Indian cricketer added that either Kishan or Shreyas Iyer could bat at No. 4 behind Kohli. Meanwhile, for the No. 5 position, he suggested a battle between spin-bowling all-rounders Washington Sundar and Axar Patel. For No.s 6 and 7, Kaif picked KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya, respectively, with an eye on next year’s 50-over World Cup.

“You cannot shake Virat Kohli. He has drawn a very big line. I am talking about ODIs, at number three, it is not possible at this point for someone to cross that line and take his place. When a big tournament or a World Cup comes, the batting order will be the same. If Ishan plays also, he will not come at three, he will have to play lower. I think it will be Kohli at three, Shreyas or Ishan at four, Axar or Sundar at five, KL at six and Hardik at seven. I think this will be the team for the World Cup. No one can even become Kohli’s shadow at number three at this point, forget taking his place,” he said on his YouTube channel.

Kaif believes that despite putting in some stunning performances with the bat for India across the two white-ball formats, Kishan will have to wait for his chances in the ODI leg of the England tour as KL Rahul would be the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter, having fared remarkably in the last few years.

“What KL Rahul has done at six, his place is fixed and he will only keep wickets. Right now it is a phase of experiments with Ishan coming in and that is fine. Maybe KL would have asked for a bit of break too ight now after the IPL and telling Ishan to keep. KL is a proven player and is fit as well now. He will only play. This question has been raised before as well. Someone else coming in will have to wait. There is always a trend of running a team. His form has been great, he is scoring runs and bringing that finishing touch. He will always be ahead and Ishan will have to wait. These guys will get an opportunity once Rohit and Kohli are gone,” he added.

Ishan Kishan can be a captaincy material as well: Mohammad Kaif

The cricketer-turned-expert backed Kishan to become a regular in the ODI team soon and opined that he is captaincy material, highlighting his impressive performance as the stand-in skipper of the Sunrisers Hyderabad during this year’s IPL, when Pat Cummins was recovering from an injury.

“Ishan Kishan can be a captaincy material as well. He is batting well. He has a sharp brain. When Cummins was not there in the IPL, he captained brilliantly and won games for his team. He backed his bowlers very well. His time will come too,” he said.