Devang Gandhi

A former Indian opening batsman, Devang Gandhi, featured for India in 4 Tests and 3 ODIs. Despite showing a lot of promise at the beginning of his international career, Gandhi's inability to handle short-pitched bowling meant that his days as an Indian opener were limited.

He made his international debut in the first Test against New Zealand in Mohali in 1999. Even though he got out for a duck in the first innings, he cemented his place in the team by scoring 75 in the second essay and put on 137 runs for the opening wicket with Sadagoppan Ramesh. His good form continued in the second Test as well. He was the top scorer for India in the game, making 88 and 31 not out as India won the game by 8 wickets.

With India winning the series 1-0 and his average being close to 50 after three Tests, many started believing that Gandhi was destined to be a formidable opener. With the success he found during the New Zealand series, he was selected for India's tour of Australia in 1999/00. However, the tour Down Under turned out to be a disastrous affair for Gandhi.

His poor technique against the short ball got highlighted during the first Test match in Adelaide. It was not just his scores of 4 and 0, but how he never looked comfortable against the rising ball and Glenn McGrath exploited his weakness to put India under pressure right from the beginning.

Gandhi played two ODIs against Australia during the tri-series that followed the Tests. He registered scores of 6 and 13 in those two games and never played for India again. He played 95 first-class matches during his career, collecting 6111 runs at an average of 42.73. He retired in April 2006.

In 2016 he was included in the five-member selection panel under MSK Prasad as the East Zone selector. And then when the Supreme Court directed Lodha Panel's recommendations came into effect and the selection committee was reduced to three members, Gandhi retained his spot and continued to remain a part until 2020.