Thread by @ovshake42

Yes, 36 hurt. It still hurts.

So much that there have been speculations of flying out Dravid.

Gavaskar and Manjrekar are probably out there as well (though I am not sure who speaks from the studio).

There is also Pujara as well.

There is someone else, too.
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You see, as any cricket-loving child will tell you, Gavaskar used to open batting, while Manjrekar, Dravid, and Pujara all batted at three.

There have been exceptions, but these were more or less where they batted.

Not this person.
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You see, they pushed him up the order whenever India travelled.

And once back to the comfort of home, he was quietly demoted.

Did he fail at the top?

He has batted 121 times in Test cricket: 35 in top three, 86 lower down the order.

At home, 53, 3, 50.
Overseas, 68, 32, 36.
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W these experiments successful?

While batting in the top 3, he averaged 39.57 away from home.

This includes hundreds in Pakistan and West Indies, a double hundred in Australia, and two hundreds on the same tour of England.

As opener, the overseas average went up to 43.65.
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Put a 1,000-run cut-off, and only Gavaskar (52.92), Gambhir (46.07), and Sehwag (45.35) have averaged better for India *while opening batting overseas*.

His career average as opener was 44.04.
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Using the same cut-off, only Mayank (52.63), Gavaskar (50.29), and Sehwag (50.14) average more *as opener*.

He was an ugly batsman, often ridiculously slow.

He was booed at Indian grounds.

It was painstaking to watch him bat.

But he could handle pace away from home.
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And their fast bowlers hated his presence at the crease as much as the Indian crowd.

Remember, he started at No. 10 and rose through the ranks but agreed to open when asked to.

A superb career as opener – more so you keep in mind that crucial second role for the side.
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Where are you, Ravi Shastri?

Why are they recommending others with you around?

If not now, then when?