Yuvraj Singh was India's impact-making player in the 2011 World Cup. Not surprisingly he was voted Player of the Tournament having scored 362 runs in eight innings even if he had struck only three sixes.
The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag had aggregated more but it was Yuvraj's match-winning performances that earned him the most coveted individual award in the tournament.
He was the rock once the top three had been dismissed, almost singlehandedly manoeuvering the middle overs, milking the spinners dry and providing a definite direction to the innings.
India's middle-order has never been the same since the retirements of Yuvraj and Suresh Raina. Just imagine a little over a month before the 50-over World Cup, the team management has been fretting over the fitness of KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer.
There have been numerous occasions when a good start has been wasted by reckless batting in the middle overs. An uncertain middle-order haunted Team India during their semi-final debacle in the 2019 edition too.
Rahul and Shreyas' conditional fitness has put India in a quandary ahead of the Asia Cup. Who will bat at No. 4? Former head coach Ravi Shastri has floated the idea of pushing Virat Kohli down to that position, one he had toyed with in 2019. Shubman Gill will then have to occupy the No.3 spot.
India need to fix this muddle before their opener against Pakistan on September 2. Ishan Kishan has scored 425 of his 694 ODI runs as an opener and so fits the bill perfectly.
Former national selector Devang Gandhi, who was part of the Indian contingent during the 2019 edition, revealed that the then captain wasn't willing to bat at No.4.
"There was talk of Virat batting at No.4 but all along he had done well at No.3. Sometimes it becomes very difficult for a player to bat at a new position. But it was his decision and he stuck to it," Devang told The Telegraph.
"It was the captain's call. As coach, you can float an idea to Virat but it all came down to if he was comfortable at that position. It was very evident he was not comfortable then, but it has been four years since and don't know what will happen this time.
"No.4 was also the problem then. We had a set 1, 2 and 3. That's why Virat didn't want to shift from his position... There may have been discussions but No.3 was the right spot for him with KL at No. 4. But once Shikhar Dhawan got injured things fell apart."
The former selector felt a wrong batting order led to their loss to New Zealand in the semi-final.
"Overall we never lost the World Cup because of one particular player. Leading up to the semi-final we won everything except for the England match. Prior to that semi-final we had a lot of injuries. Shikhar got injured... Vijay Shankar too... Sending DK (Dinesh Karthik) at No.5 was a mistake in hindsight because the ball was seaming.
"I would have preferred MS (Dhoni) at No.5 since it would have given him the time to settle down. The batting order should have been different in the semi-final. We botched it up there. A player of Mahi's stature should have batted higher. Sending him at No.7 was a big mistake considering the wealth of experience he brings to the table."
Batting positions could make a huge impact in the 50-over format. A strong middle-order is needed to save the blushes if the top-order crashes in a knockout match.
The boring middle-overs requires discipline and rotation of strike. Here comes in the art of absorbing pressure and building partnerships. Remember India never really recovered from 24/4 in that ill-fated semi-final in 2019!
India quickly need to solve this conundrum to find a credible option. Even AB de Villiers thinks Kohli would be the best bet at No.4, but will he agree?
