Most successful No.4 batsmen for India in ODIs

Dilip Vengsarkar

The Colonel was the mainstay of Indian middle order in the 1980s.

If Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev are often regarded as India's greatest match winners from the 1980s, Dilip Vengsarkar is certainly not far behind. If Gavaskar and Dev were the champions of the top and lower order, Vengsarkar was a pillar in the middle order. In his 15 years long International career, Vengsarkar played 71 of his 120 ODI innings at the number four slot, scoring 2138 runs at a respectable average of 37.51. The fact that his career average of 34.73 is significantly lower than his average as a number 4 batsman is enough to prove that Vengsarkar, who was one of the better batsmen in the longer format, was a solid number four batsman in the Indian batting lineup.