Kumble for flexibility in batting order

India’s one-day international batting order has evinced quite a bit of intrigue of late, be it the opening slot or the No.4 position. Chief coach Anil Kumble said while batting order is subject to situations, Manish Pandey is surely looked upon as one of the options for the No.4 slot.

Captain MS Dhoni, too, had expressed the desire to bat at No.4 in the past, but it is Pandey who has been occupying the place in the side against New Zealand. Kumble said Pandey has shown promise in the recent past.

“Obviously Manish (Pandey) is someone who has done really well in the recent past and he's started off fairly well even in Dharamsala. I think in one-day cricket it is not necessary that you need to have certain positions fixed as far as batting goes. It all depends on the situation. So, you could see someone else walking in at No.4 (depending upon) if we bat first or we bat second,” Kumble said.

“But Manish is someone who has shown a lot of promise and has a lot of performances to back it as well. It’s something really heartening. He comes into international cricket with solid domestic performance over the years. So that certainly gives him the additional advantage of knowing what to do in different situations. So, No.4 yes, he is certainly (we look at as an option).

“We'll keep asking him to do that but like I said, it depends on the situation, you could see someone else walking in at No. 4 as well.”

Kumble also said they would be persisting with Ajinkya Rahane at the opening slot, for now. “At the moment I think Rahane certainly fits in at the top of the order and that's something that we will persist with. Yes, it does give us an option once Shikhar (Dhawan) and (KL) Rahul are fit. But we will only look at that probably post the England Test series, when England come for one-dayers,” he said.

“In this one-day series, definitely Rahane is going to open the batting. Looking at the Champions trophy, we will decide as to who will be our opening batting combination and then who will bat 4, 5. I think all that will come in much later.”

Kumble was also appreciative of Hardik Pandya’s run in his maiden ODI in Dharamsala. “I think he is someone who obviously gives us the right balance because he can bowl. And he can not only bowl but also bowl pretty decent as well. It was nice that he really bowled well in his first game, in the ODI with the new ball. That was certainly the strategy MS (Dhoni) wanted Hardik to try. It’s really heartening that he came up with the man of the match in his first game so that I'm sure it should give him a lot of confidence,” he said.