Cricket News: Asia Cup - India needs to fix the No 4 position

While most of the cricket veterans hailed the squad selected by India for the tournament, former national selector Saba Karim ignited the debate over the number 4 spot in the line-up. He urged the management to strike the right balance in the complete line-up by picking one between Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik.

"But to fix the No. 4 position for a specific player, we need to get the balance of the side correct. When I say this, I mean they need to pick between Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant," said Saba Karim.

Rishabh Pant has been India's most preferred wicket-keeper batter across all formats for team India. At the same time, they looked for a stable option in other players like Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan and Dinesh Karthik. In the absence of Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik made a comeback in international cricket after his explosive revival in the game of cricket as a finisher came to light in IPL and thus, has been preferred secondary to Rishabh Pant in the T20I format as a wicket-keeper batter.

Apart from the presence of these two players in the line-up, Suryakumar Yadav's impressive stint as number four batter adds to the confusion. He is among the seven batters who featured at the same spot for India since the last World Cup and scored 195 runs at a strike rate of 198.97. His position changed to the opener in the series against West Indies became the other reason to spark debate for the number 4 spot.

"Once you decide on either of these players [Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik], then it is easy to slot in Surya at No. 4," he added.

India has a massive task force to strike a correct balance among the many options available in top order, with three players fixed in the form of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli.