Why the No. 4 conundrum isn’t India-specific Premium

India has been searching for the right combination of players to fit the new No. 4 role. India's ODI No. 4 has changed since Yuvraj's retirement, due to rule changes which have eliminated the middle-overs stalemate & favoured fluid middle-orders of bowlers, keeper-batters & power-hitters. India has been searching for the right players to fit the new role.

India captain Rohit Sharma recently observed that the No. 4 position in the ODI batting order had been a problem for the team since Yuvraj Singh’s retirement. 

If we consider the frequency of appearances, India has had four mainstays at No. 4 in its ODI history: Dilip Vengsarkar in the 1980s, Mohammad Azharuddin in the 1990s, Rahul Dravid in the 2000s, and Yuvraj in the 2010s. 

In the 2023 World Cup, India’s No. 4 will most probably be Shreyas Iyer (fitness permitting), to be followed by the wicketkeeper (either K.L. Rahul or Ishan Kishan, depending on whether a right- or a left-hander is preferred), and two all-rounders (Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya). The reserve middle-order option is Suryakumar Yadav.

The problem at No. 4 is not India-specific. For instance, in the 2019 World Cup, England used three different players in the slot, while Australia used four. New Zealand and Bangladesh had the most stable No. 4 bat in the tournament. India’s much publicised problems at No. 4 in that edition were not unprecedented either. It used five different batters at No. 4 in the 2003 World Cup. The nature of the uncertainty surrounding the position, however, did change from 2003 to 2019.

The 2003 World Cup was the last one played before the Powerplay (PP) rules were modified in 2005. In the six-year period, starting from the 1999 World Cup to 2005, 23.4% of deliveries (or, 11.4 of the 50 overs) in ODIs were delivered by a player who batted in the top six. Since the PP rules were last modified in 2015, only 6.5 of the 50 overs are being delivered by a top-six batter.

In October 2012, the ICC decided to experiment with a new restriction, which allowed at most four fielders outside the circle during non-PP overs, a reduction from five. This made it increasingly difficult for the part-timer to fill in the fifth bowler’s overs. 

Yuvraj averaged between six and seven overs per ODI in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and had a superb all-round Player of the Tournament performance in India’s 2011 World Cup campaign. After the rule change in October 2012, Yuvraj played 29 times for India, in 2013 and 2017, and bowled only 31 overs.