The day VVS Laxman announced his retirement, it seemed S Badrinath had got a fresh lease of life. As one would've thought, he was fittingly drafted into the Test team for the series against New Zealand. Nobody deserved to be picked more than Badrinath, for he'd been scoring loads of runs in the domestic circuit. Having scored nearly 8000 first-class runs, it was unfortunate that he played only two Tests and seven ODIs.

At times, you're born in a wrong era and no matter how much you perform in the domestic circuit, you never get picked for the India.

Badrinath, for the best part of his career, was also stuck in that time zone because the India middle order was occupied by some of the best the world had seen.

While he didn't set the world on fire in the limited opportunities he's got at the highest level, his fighting half-century against Dale Steyn's South Africa did show glimpses of his technical prowess.

Unfortunately, the door that Badrinath was badgering for, opened only briefly before being shut.

Writer is a former India Opener