Heading into a T20 World Cup year against the backdrop of a 50-over World Cup campaign that fell short of expectations, India’s eight-wicket loss to West Indies in the ODI series opener shouldn’t set the alarm bells ringing just yet.

India, however, may feel they haven’t been able to shake off the bad habit of failing to defend totals often. It has been spoken about since Virat Kohli took over as ODI captain in the home series against England in January 2017. He has fared relatively better than MS Dhoni, considered a master tactician with bowlers. With Dhoni as captain, India won 47 of their 86 ODIs while defending. Under Kohli, it’s 24 out of 34.

It’s not that Kohli has enjoyed great returns batting first. Leaving aside games in neutral venues, India have, since January 2017, won seven out of 12 matches at home and eight out of 12 away. The numbers aren’t troubling if seen from the perspective of winning bilateral rubbers, but the perfectionist in Kohli will be keen to rectify whatever is going wrong. He could start by reconfiguring the way India set up targets, specifically by asking his batsmen to spend more time at the crease.

This assumes significance as the No 4 batsman’s slot is still a work in progress. India’s indecision showed in the World Cup where they tried Rishabh Pant four times, Vijay Shankar and Hardik Pandya twice each and KL Rahul once. The musical chairs continues as in the three ODIs since the World Cup all against West Indies India tried Pant twice and Shreyas Iyer once in the slot. Since India will look to play more T20Is in the next two years due to back-to-back World Cups in Australia and India, the ODI No. 4 conundrum may not have a permanent solution quickly.