Devang Jayant Gandhi (born 6 September 1971) is a former Indian

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. He was a right-handed opening batsman and a very occasional right-arm medium-pace bowler. He played for

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, Hadleigh and Thundersley Cricket Club, Essex. Despite the 1999–2000 tour of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

exposing Gandhi's weakness in technique against faster deliveries, his domestic form stayed constant, having had a good start to his international career in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Successive stands with Sadagoppan Ramesh in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

lifted Gandhi's Test average above 50. Poor performances saw him dropped during the Australian tour. Gandhi played domestic cricket for

in the

Ranji Trophy The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic first-class cricket championship played in India and organized annually by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The teams representing regional and state cricket associations participate. BCCI ...

and East Zone in the Duleep Trophy before retiring after the 2005–06 season. Gandhi also had two seasons playing for Gwersyllt Park CC, who play in the North Wales cricket league. He was appointed as a national selector for Indian cricket team. 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.

References

Devang Gandhi retires from first-class cricket
from ESPNcricinfo, 27 April 2006 1971 births Living people India Test cricketers Indian cricketers India One Day International cricketers Bengal cricketers East Zone cricketers People from Bhavnagar Cricketers from Gujarat Essex Cricket Board cricketers Indian cricket commentators {{India-cricket-bio-stub