‘Virat Kohli can make a sacrifice for Ishan Kishan’: Sanjay Manjrekar’s solution to balance India’s playing XI

Even before the hangover of the Sri Lanka series is over, India are gearing up for the next. Just a month after playing them in New Zealand in three ODIs and as many T20Is, they will repeat it in the reverse fixture.
Meanwhile, with KL Rahul skipping the series due to personal reasons and Shreyas Iyer ruled out with an injury, former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar might have a solution to balance the Indian batting line-up ahead of the first ODI between India and New Zealand.
Manjrekar believes that in-form Kohli can make a sacrifice for Ishan Kishan as he had once done for Ambati Rayudu back in 2014.
“It’s still going to be tricky. One guy is going to be really upset. I have got an idea to sort this mess out. Having Shubman Gill bat at No. 3, he seems like he can handle that position, and then Virat Kohli sacrifices his No. 3 for a No. 4.”
“He has done that before to Ambati Rayudu once, many years back against Sri Lanka. So that could be a way to sort it out. Ishan Kishan after his double hundred, left and right-handed combination at the top is not such a bad idea,” Manjrekar said to Star Sports.
On Tuesday, skipper Rohit Sharma confirmed in a pre-match media interaction that Ishan Kishan, who sat out of the series against Bangladesh despite scoring a double ton in his last ODI innings, will be accommodated in the middle-order.

“Kishan will be batting in the middle order and I am glad he could get a run here after that fine knock in Bangladesh,” he said.