To understand the importance of the No 3, you only have to look at the five names chosen as Wisden's Cricketers of the Century in 2000.
Two of them, Sir Donald Bradman and Sir Vivian Richards, did their best work at that position.
Since then, two others have added their names to the one-drop pantheon.
Rahul Dravid finished his distinguished career with 10,524 runs at No 3, while Ricky Ponting made 9,904 runs there before being moved down the order.
Like the classical libero in football, the role of the No 3 involves both repelling the opposition and launching counter-attacks.
There is no more pivotal position in the line-up. A great No 3 takes full toll of the older, softer ball, but must also be mentally attuned to deal with the new one.
Some, like Richards and Bradman, made their mark through domination. Others, like Dravid, played on the opposition's patience and eventually wore them down.
With Dravid now having moved aside, India face a dilemma before the start of the next home season.
VVS Laxman played his most famous innings - the 281 at Eden Gardens in 2001 - from No 3, but it would be a big surprise if he made it even as far as the home series against England at the end of the year.
The one redeeming feature of India's disastrous tour of Australia was the batting of Virat Kohli.
With Dravid gone, he will surely bat higher. Having scored centuries for Delhi at No 3, his name will certainly be part of any discussion, but the feeling you get is that he is the long-term replacement for Sachin Tendulkar at No 4.
Cheteshwar Pujara, who made his debut nearly a year before Kohli, would have been next in line but for his misfortune with injuries.
Pujara also had a relatively poor tour of South Africa in 2010/11, struggling to cope with Dale Steyn at full throttle. Cheteshwar Pujara has 14 centuries from 61 first-class games, and the fluency with which he batted on his debut against Australia means that his chance will surely come during the home season.
As impressive as Pujara's first-class numbers are, they pale next to those of Ajinkya Rahane. After 50 games, he has 18 centuries and an astonishing average of 68.47. He showed glimpses of real quality during the one-day series in England last year, and has been on the fringes of the Test squad recently.
Murali Vijay was at the front of the queue three years ago, but mediocre numbers over 12 Tests mean that he must now wait his turn while the young ones get their opportunity.
Abhinav Mukund, his Tamil Nadu teammate, may not have convinced on the tour of England, but he, too, has impressive domestic credentials.
The rank outsider is the most experienced of the lot.
Subramaniam Badrinath averages more than 60 after a 104-game career, but did little of note in the few chances that he got at international level. Now 31 and after one of the poorest Ranji Trophy seasons of his career, he must fight the feeling that the boat has already left the harbour.
With India not touring England, Australia or South Africa for the next two years, whoever is chosen to succeed Dravid will have the luxury of settling into the position in familiar home conditions.
Dravid scored 21 of his 36 centuries overseas, scoring at least one in each Test-playing nation.
More importantly, his name will forever be associated with most of India's celebrated away victories.
Whoever fills the void will have to ignore the inevitable comparisons and chart his own path. For the moment, Kohli looks the best equipped.
[ sports@thenational.ae ]
More coverage from the Future Forum
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2.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Shamikh, Ryan Curatolo, Nicholas Bachalard
3pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 64,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: One Vision, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
3.30pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 100,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Gabr, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson
4pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 96,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Just A Penny, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
4.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 60,000 (D) 1,600m
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5pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 76,000 (D) 1,950m
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Bharatanatyam
A ancient classical dance from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Intricate footwork and expressions are used to denote spiritual stories and ideas.
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Name: Dooda Solutions
Based: Lebanon
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Sector: AgriTech
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Number of employees: 11
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Scream VI
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
Stars: Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Jack Champion, Dermot Mulroney, Jenna Ortega, Hayden Panettiere and Courteney Cox
Rating: 3/5
Honeymoonish
Director: Elie El Samaan
Starring: Nour Al Ghandour, Mahmoud Boushahri
Rating: 3/5
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Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
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2. Switzerland
3. Denmark
4. Ireland
5. Hong Kong
6. Sweden
7. UAE
8. Taiwan
9. Netherlands
10. Norway
BACK TO ALEXANDRIA
Director: Tamer Ruggli
Starring: Nadine Labaki, Fanny Ardant
Rating: 3.5/5
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Sub Regional Qualifier
Event info: The tournament in Kuwait this month is the first phase of the qualifying process for sides from Asia for the 2020 World T20 in Australia. The UAE must finish within the top three teams out of the six at the competition to advance to the Asia regional finals. Success at regional finals would mean progression to the World T20 Qualifier.
UAE’s fixtures: Fri Apr 20, UAE v Qatar; Sat Apr 21, UAE v Saudi Arabia; Mon Apr 23, UAE v Bahrain; Tue Apr 24, UAE v Maldives; Thu Apr 26, UAE v Kuwait
World T20 2020 Qualifying process:
- Sixteen teams will play at the World T20 in two years’ time.
- Australia have already qualified as hosts
- Nine places are available to the top nine ranked sides in the ICC’s T20i standings, not including Australia, on Dec 31, 2018.
- The final six teams will be decided by a 14-team World T20 Qualifier.
World T20 standings: 1 Pakistan; 2 Australia; 3 India; 4 New Zealand; 5 England; 6 South Africa; 7 West Indies; 8 Sri Lanka; 9 Afghanistan; 10 Bangladesh; 11 Scotland; 12 Zimbabwe; 13 UAE; 14 Netherlands; 15 Hong Kong; 16 Papua New Guinea; 17 Oman; 18 Ireland
The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable
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Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
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Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
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TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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Tuesday (UAE kick-off times)
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Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United (11.15pm)
Wednesday
Manchester United v Sheffield United (9pm)
Newcastle United v Aston Villa (9pm)
Norwich City v Everton (9pm)
Wolves v Bournemouth (9pm)
Liverpool v Crystal Palace (11.15pm)
Thursday
Burnley v Watford (9pm)
Southampton v Arsenal (9pm)
Chelsea v Manchester City (11.15pm)
Gully Boy
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Producer: Excel Entertainment & Tiger Baby
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July 5, 1994: Jeff Bezos founds Cadabra Inc, which would later be renamed to Amazon.com, because his lawyer misheard the name as 'cadaver'. In its earliest days, the bookstore operated out of a rented garage in Bellevue, Washington
July 16, 1995: Amazon formally opens as an online bookseller. Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought becomes the first item sold on Amazon
1997: Amazon goes public at $18 a share, which has grown about 1,000 per cent at present. Its highest closing price was $197.85 on June 27, 2024
1998: Amazon acquires IMDb, its first major acquisition. It also starts selling CDs and DVDs
2000: Amazon Marketplace opens, allowing people to sell items on the website
2002: Amazon forms what would become Amazon Web Services, opening the Amazon.com platform to all developers. The cloud unit would follow in 2006
2003: Amazon turns in an annual profit of $75 million, the first time it ended a year in the black
2005: Amazon Prime is introduced, its first-ever subscription service that offered US customers free two-day shipping for $79 a year
2006: Amazon Unbox is unveiled, the company's video service that would later morph into Amazon Instant Video and, ultimately, Amazon Video
2007: Amazon's first hardware product, the Kindle e-reader, is introduced; the Fire TV and Fire Phone would come in 2014. Grocery service Amazon Fresh is also started
2009: Amazon introduces Amazon Basics, its in-house label for a variety of products
2010: The foundations for Amazon Studios were laid. Its first original streaming content debuted in 2013
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2014: The Amazon Echo is launched, a speaker that acts as a personal digital assistant powered by Alexa
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2018: Amazon's market cap briefly crosses the $1 trillion mark, making it, at the time, only the third company to achieve that milestone
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Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin
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The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
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