India, Sept. 10 -- There was a time when India asked one cricketer to perform perhaps the most exhausting double act available in international cricket. He would take the new ball, spend over after over trying to make it swing, and then, when India's turn came to bat, walk straight back out to face the opposition's freshest fast bowlers. It was not an occasional experiment either. Across his career, he opened both the batting and bowling in 20 Tests and 45 ODIs.

His journey to that unusual role was hardly straightforward. After making his international debut in 1984, he spent years drifting around the fringes of the Indian side. When the selectors eventually looked his way again, it was because he had produced a domestic season that was ...