Rohan Kanhai

Personal information
Full name	Rohan Bholalall Kanhai
Born	(1935-12-26)26 December 1935 (age 90) Port Mourant,British Guiana
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right armmedium
Role	Batsman, occasionalwicket-keeper
Relations	Tyrone Etwaroo, (nephew)
International information
National side	West Indies
Test debut (cap 94)	30 May 1957 v England
Last Test	5 April 1974 v England
ODI debut (cap 8)	5 September 1973 v England
Last ODI	21 June 1975 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1954–1974	British Guiana/Guyana
1959–1960	Berbice
1961/62	Western Australia
1964/65	Trinidad and Tobago
1968–1977	Warwickshire
1969/70	Tasmania
1974/75	Transvaal
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 79 7 421 159 Runs scored 6,227 164 29,250 4,769 Batting average 47.53 54.66 49.40 39.09 100s/50s 15/28 0/2 86/120 7/26 Top score 256 55 256 126 Balls bowled 183 0 1,595 29 Wickets 0 – 19 1 Bowling average – – 54.68 17.00 5 wickets in innings – – 0 0 10 wickets in match – – 0 0 Best bowling – – 2/5 1/2 Catches/stumpings 50/– 4/– 325/7 70/1
Medal record Men'sCricket Representing West Indies ICC Cricket World Cup Winner 1975 England
Source:Cricinfo,31 October 2009

Rohan Bholalall Kanhai (born 26 December 1935) is aGuyanese formercricketer ofIndo-Guyanese origin, who represented theWest Indies in 79Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featured on several great West Indian teams, playing alongside SirGarfield Sobers,Roy Fredericks,Lance Gibbs,Clive Lloyd, andAlvin Kallicharran among others.C. L. R. James wrote in theNew World Journal that Kanhai was "the high peak of West Indian cricketing development", and praised his "adventuresome" attitude.^[1] Kanhai was part of the West Indian team that won the inaugural,1975 Cricket World Cup without losing a match.^[2]

Kanhai made his Test debut during the West Indies'1957 tour of England andkept wickets for his first three Tests, in addition to opening the batting.Gerry Alexander took over the gloves for the last two Tests. A right-handed batsman, Kanhai scored 6,227 runs in 79 Tests at a robust average of 47.53, with his highest score of 256 coming againstIndia in a Test atCalcutta. When Kanhai retired, his batting average was the fifth-highest of all West Indian cricketers with more than 20 Tests. He was famous for his unorthodox shots, most notably the "fallinghook" shot, in which he finished hisfollow-through lying on his back, famously during the West Indies'1963 tour of England when his innings of 77 atThe Oval won the match for the West Indies. In the1975 World Cup final, when he was grey-haired and in his 40th year, his steady half-century set the platform for an explosive innings byClive Lloyd.

Late in his career, he becameWest Indies captain, succeedingGary Sobers, giving the team more determination and resolve. After Kanhai's retirement, the West Indies called on him to be their first national cricket coach. In charge of coaching the under-19s before being assigned to the Test team, Kanhai's selection was announced at theWICBoC annual general meeting in May 1992 to start work in the autumn of 1992 "for an as yet unspecified period". He resigned in 1995 in favour ofAndy Roberts.

Throughout hisfirst-class cricket career, Kanhai played forBritish Guiana,Guyana,North of South Africa (SACBOC),Tasmania,Transvaal (SACB) in theHowa Bowl,Trinidad,Warwickshire, andWestern Australia.

InEnglish county cricket forWarwickshire, he also played alongside Kallicharran,John Jameson, andDennis Amiss. Kanhai scored 11,615first-class runs for Warwickshire at an average of 51.62, which is the highest for any batsman who played for the county for a considerable time.^[3]

The Indian opening batsmanSunil Gavaskar named his sonRohan after Kanhai,^[4] and wrote of Kanhai, "To say that he is the greatest batsman I have ever seen so far is, to put it mildly."Bob Holland, the Australian spin bowler, also named his son Rohan, in honour of Kanhai.^[5] There is aWetherspoons pub inAshington, Northumberland named after him in recognition of his time playing for Ashington Cricket Club during the 1963/64 season when he was brought in by Charlie Chisholm Senior and helped them win both the cup and the league. As one of the world's best cricketers, his time at the club drew large crowds and his benefit matches included many other first-class players from the West Indies, including Garfield Sobers, Wesley Hall, Lance Gibbs and Seymour Nurse.^[6]

In 2009, Kanhai was inducted into theICC Cricket Hall of Fame.^[7]

• Media related toRohan Kanhai at Wikimedia Commons
• Rohan Kanhai atESPNcricinfo

• 1935 births
• Living people
• West Indies One Day International cricketers
• West Indies Test cricketers
• Guyanese cricketers
• Berbice cricketers
• Commonwealth XI cricketers
• Tasmania cricketers
• Western Australia cricketers
• Warwickshire cricketers
• Guyanese expatriate cricketers in England
• Guyanese expatriate cricketers
• International Cavaliers cricketers
• West Indies Test cricket captains
• World Series Cricket players
• Wisden Cricketers of the Year
• Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup
• Guyana cricketers
• Guyanese Hindus
• Indo-Guyanese people
• People from East Berbice-Corentyne
• Sportspeople of Indian descent
• Guyanese cricket coaches
• Coaches of the West Indies cricket team
• A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers

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