KL Rahul should bat at #4 & Shreyas Iyer should bat at #5

[SecondSlip]

Rahul has always been an opening batsman. He can easily adjust at #4. 
 

Iyer has always been a middle order batsman. He can easily adjust at #5 

[Ankit_sharma03]

Agreed but its not about adjustment i find KL better batsman then iyer . But neways its fine till even this is working

[Tendulkar1996]

No keep rahul at 5.But pant/gill is needed at 6.

[vvvslaxman]

58 minutes ago, SecondSlip said:

Rahul has always been an opening batsman. He can easily adjust at #4. 
 

Iyer has always been a middle order batsman. He can easily adjust at #5 

Iyer has done nothing wrong to be demoted. He was the one who stepped up recently for India when we were in trouble.  Rahul is already used to being thrown around in the batting order. Let us not do the same to another guy

[rkt.india]

Rahul is fine at 5. 

[vvvslaxman]

Yea i don't see any kind of dramatic improvement over this. THis could backfire as well. KL Rahul bats opening if not no.5 Iyer should be at 4. With long levers he can attack the bowlers once in a while in between overs.

[Vickydev]

Both look good at their current positions. Iyer is your crisis man, better play higher up the order. When Pandya comes back, his added hitting prowess at 6 will make this combo look even better. 

[Sachinism]

Iyer has done well to earn the 4 spot. But I don't see an issue with switching them around.

[ShoonyaSifar]

KL Rahul should ONLY open in LOIs and be given opportunities to score match winning 100s and score 150s-170s in ODIs which he is fully capable of. Quite clearly Kohli did not want to threaten the place of his buddy Dhawan in ODIs by asking Rahul to open.

[RajBan]

 

 

Iyer looks to need more time to get set, he does not look like somebody who can come and hit the ball from word go. But he looks to have the mindset to build the innings during the middle overs. As such I will prefer Iyer at 4 when we lose 2 wickets in first 15 overs.

 

KL looks to be more dynamic in terms of shots and timings and can also play at a high tempo from word go. Hence I will prefer him to be at 5 so that he can come and bat at a high tempo from 25th-30th over till deep into slog overs.

 

Now if we lose the second wicket after 25th over, you can send KL directly, should be fine. Iyer can then come at 5 if we lose a quick wicket again or can go down the order with Pandya coming ahead of him.

 

Here is the most important thing. Looks like they are able to bat with each other and developing a strong understanding and it may not matter end of the day if one comes at 4 and the other at 5.

[Straight Drive]

After lot of experimentation the No4 and 5 issues are sorted. Iyer is fit for 4 and Rahul is fit for 5. The stats also back it. TM has solved two spots but it's taken a long time.

[ShoonyaSifar]

Just now, Straight Drive said:

After lot of experimentation the No4 and 5 issues are sorted. Iyer is fit for 4 and Rahul is fit for 5. The stats also back it. TM has solved two spots but it's taken a long time.

No they have not. Rahul in form is much more lethal as an opener and will get the opportunity to play match winning innings. Has to open. If it means Kohli moving to number 5 in a finisher role, so be it. At number 3, other than piling on useless runs in bilaterals, he hasn't really done much in global tournaments. Time for him to become the finisher we crave.

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

Iyer at 4 and Rahul at 5 is working perfectly fine so there's no need to try and fix what isn't broken. 

[TNAmarkFromIndia]

9 minutes ago, ShoonyaSifar said:

No they have not. Rahul in form is much more lethal as an opener and will get the opportunity to play match winning innings. 

In T20Is, yes. In ODIs, he plays slow at the top of the order. Even Rohit outpaces him early on in the innings.

[Cricwala]

I am fine with Rahul at 5 - he has shown he has the explosive game from word go that we need at that position, along with ability to reconstruct the innings. Its a crucial spot and I don't see many good contenders around. For opening, I wld pair Shaw with Rohit. Gill shld be the back-up batsman who can either open or come in at 3/4/5 if someone's injured. No. 6 positon is where we are still struggling.

[Sean Bradley]

Wont mind the swap but it wont make much of a difference to the cause.