India's quest for the next all-rounder cornered them into trying out several bits-and-pieces players in the late 90s, one of whom was a skinny gentleman from Chennai by the name of Hemang Badani. With loads of Ranji runs to back him up, Badani came into the side a fluent left-handed batsman with a typically subcontinental style: low stance for the sluggish and dry surfaces, a side-on position whilst facing up, and a typically flamboyant run of the wrists through the bat to get the power on the ball. He was initially brought into the ODI fold and had his fair share of success before being roped into the Test side as an experiment.

Despite lasting all of four Test matches, At his best, Badani could be rather compact and elegant as a batsman driving in the V and had the composure and sense to make the adjustment in bouncier conditions with a more upright stance. However, Badani struggled with form and his neither-here-nor-there all-round performances left a lot to be desired. In fact, it was in the backdrop of the match-fixing scandal that broke out in 2000, Badani made his ODI debut in a game against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup.

The all-round southpaw received Indian Test cap number 237 on the morning of the first Test against Zimbabwe at Harare in 2001. Interestingly, he played as an opener on his Test debut as an experiment and struggled against the new ball. With a plethora of unconverted starts under his belt, Badani was quickly running out of time. At the 11th hour, he managed to score an ODI hundred against a mighty Australians at Pune in 2001. Alas, a fluid hundred from Mark Waugh upstaged Badani's knock as the Aussies chased down the total with utmost ease. With form abandoning him and the younger brigade of players that were being tried, Badani's career eventually faced a bit of a stampede and he was gone forever.

After signing up to play for the ICL in 2007, he was one of the banned players by the BCCI. He was forced to abandon the ICL and accept the BCCI's 'amnesty offer' to be given an NoC to play cricket in India's domestic fold again. He was one of the few players to get an IPL contract after being a part of the ICL, and was signed by the Chennai Super Kings during that time. He played his final first-class game for Vidarbha against Punjab in 2013 and decided to call it quits from professional cricket at the age of 37.

By Rishi Roy