| Rohan Kanhai was the first West Indian batting icon | | | | flat-track bully, as he managed to average 40.32 in |
| of East Indian descent. The Guyanese right-hander | | | | the difficult batting conditions of England. |
| was known for his stroke play and innovation at the | | | | Kanhai played with and against some illustrious names |
| crease and had a colourful career in the maroon cap | | | | in cricket in his era. He played with Sonny Ramadhin, |
| of the West Indies for nearly two decades. | | | | Garry Sobers, Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes and |
| Born in Berbice, Guyana on December 26, 1935, | | | | Sir Frank Worrell in his debut match. Later in his Test |
| Kanhai made his debut for Guyana as a 19-year old in | | | | career, he shared the field with Roy Fredericks, Clive |
| the 1954/ 1955 First Class season. It was not long | | | | Lloyd and Andy Roberts. Rohan Kanhai also had the |
| until the middle order batsman caught the eye of | | | | distinction of captaining the West Indies in 13 Test |
| West Indies selectors - after only three seasons. | | | | matches, scoring 738 runs and averaging 41 as |
| Kanhai's Test debut came on the West Indies' 1957 | | | | captain. |
| tour of England. In that drawn game, the Guyanese | | | | Kanhai's batting exploits took him all over the world. |
| batsman opened the batting - scoring 42 and 1. | | | | Apart from the West Indies and Guyana (formerly |
| Rohan went on to play 79 Tests for the W.I., tallying | | | | British Guiana), the attacking stroke-maker also |
| 6,227 runs at a good average of 47.53. Of those | | | | played for North of South Africa, Tasmania, |
| 6227 runs, 15 were centuries and 28 were fifties. His | | | | Transvaal, Trinidad, Warwickshire and Western |
| highest score in Tests was also his highest score in | | | | Australia. For those teams, he played 421 First Class |
| First Class cricket - 256 against India at Eden Gardens | | | | matches, scoring 29,250 runs at an average of 49.40. |
| in January 1959. Kanhai scored another Test double | | | | His best score was 256, while 86 hundreds and 120 |
| hundred - 217 against Pakistan at Lahore - and had | | | | fifties formed part of his massive tally. |
| the distinction of scoring a century at Lord's, the | | | | Towards the end of his career, Kanhai played |
| home of cricket. | | | | one-day matches as well, scoring 4,769 runs from |
| Although the Guyanese icon scored the majority of | | | | 159 matches at an average of 39.09 - demonstrating |
| his Test runs against England (2267), he averaged | | | | his versatility. After he retired from First Class cricket |
| the highest against India (62.70). Kanhai enjoyed | | | | in 1977, the Guyanese legend was involved in |
| batting on the subcontinent, as he averaged 63.75 in | | | | administration. |
| India and 54.80 in Pakistan. However, he was no | | | | |