Hussain was picked again for a Test series against India in the summer of 1996. The number 3 batting position had been troublesome for England for some time. England had tried all manner of combinations at No.3, from the left-field Jason Gallian to the veteran Robin Smith, via the temperamentally suspect pairing of Graeme Hick and Mark Ramprakash. "A lot is made of your batting position," Hussain recalled to Cricinfo, "but I always felt, and I did back then when David Lloyd rang me up and asked me to bat No.3, that if you're good enough to be playing Test cricket, you should be good enough to move from No.5 to No.3".