Devang Gandhi ODI debut innings of 30 runs off 67 balls, 116 mins, including 5 fours vs New Zealand 5th ODI at Delhi, Nov 17 1999. It was consider a slow innings if consider the strike rate of 44.77. However, it’s a golden opportunity to watch out a forgotten opener played for India in late 1990’s. Although, the five boundaries showed a glimpse of his talent, but he could not settle in international cricket due to poor technique against short pitched rising deliveries. Devang Gandhi, in his first one-day international, and Ganguly opened with 117 runs opening stand in reply New Zealand modest target of 179. India won the match by 6 wickets with six overs in hand and also sealed the ODI series 3-2.
He was a right-handed opening batsman and a very occasional
right-arm medium-pace bowler. 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. Devang Gandhi poor technique against short pitched
deliveries exposed him on Australia tour of 1999-00. He played 95 first-class
matches during his career, collecting 6111 runs at an average of 42.73. He
retired in April 2006.
