Who after Sachin Tendulkar? The search for the next number four

Gautam Gambhir: It might come across a surprise to many but in my opinion Gambhir could be the best option to fill up the gaping hole left by Tendulkar. Gambhir is the exact anti-thesis of Sehwag (possibly the reason why they made such a successful pair over the years) but you would have to search hard to find someone among his contemporaries who is as focussed on his batting as he is. Sehwag’s carefree approach often spells his doom; one cannot say the same about Gambhir.

There will be critics – after all, Gambhir has spent the greater part of his cricketing life as an opener. But if a middle-order batsman can open the batting and become one of the modern greats of the cricketing world, why can we not have the opposite? In any case, it is an easier job than facing the new cherry first up. Besides, India would any day prefer to take an old warhorse to battle in South Africa rather than an inexperienced greenhorn.