Ramnaresh Sarwan

Photos: Ramnaresh Sarwan

Ramnaresh Sarwan: Life and times

Ramnaresh Sarwan Biography

Exactly how the pocket-sized Sarwan hit with so much power, especially square of the wicket, remains a mystery. Ever so nimble, he always seemed to merely caress the ball, and yet they seemed to race to the fence at breakneck pace.

Despite remaining in the giant shadows of Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Chris Gayle throughout his career, Sarwan carved out a niche for himself, with his exemplary breathtaking footwork, dazzling strokeplay, and trademark bandana.

He scored almost 6,000 runs in either format and averaged in excess of 40 in both. At one time the little Guyanese was looked upon as a long-term prospect and was even appointed vice-captain of West Indies. But he failed to live up to the expectations.

His first Test hundred took him 28 Tests, but the next 59 fetched him another 14. The crème la crème was the mammoth 291 against England at Kensington Oval in 2009, threatening to break Lara’s record of 400, adding 261 for the sixth wicket with Denesh Ramdin.

There were several other highlights of his career. After felled by a Dilhara Fernando bouncer in World Cup 2003 he came back to launch a furious onslaught. In 2006 he smashed Munaf Patel for six fours in an over. In 2009 he became the youngest West Indian to reach the 5,000-run milestone (and did not score even a thousand since then). In one of the strangest decisions by WICB, Sarwan lost his central contract that same season.

There were other oddities, too. The infamous on-field spat with Glenn McGrath, for example. Or the fact that when ICC tested the action of all contemporary bowlers, Sarwan was certified as the only one with a one hundred per cent correct action. Talking of bowling, he once demolished Bangladesh with 3 for 59 and 4 for 37 in the same Test with his leg-breaks.

Sarwan also had distinguished domestic careers with Guyana, Gloucestershire, and Leicestershire, and even played for Kings XI Punjab in the inaugural edition of IPL. He retired in September 2016, over three years after playing his last match for West Indies.

Abhishek Mukherjee

Ramnaresh Sarwan Batting & Fielding Averages

Career	M	In	R	NO	HS	Avg	BF	SR	100s	50s	4s	6s	Ct	St
Test	87	154	5842	8	291	40.01	12484	46.79	15	31	747	14	53	0
ODIs	181	169	5804	33	120*	42.67	7665	75.72	5	38	482	58	45	0
T20s	18	16	298	3	59*	22.92	286	104.1	0	2	19	6	7	0
World Cup	21	20	739	4	92	46.18	974	75.87	0	3	71	10	3	0

Ramnaresh Sarwan Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	87	2022	1163	23	50.56	3.451	87.	0	0	4/37	7/96
ODIs	181	581	586	16	36.62	6.051	36.31	0	0	3/31	3/31
T20s	18	12	10	2	5.000	5.000	6.000	0	0	2/1	2/1
World Cup	21	78	73	2	36.50	5.615	39.00	0	--	1/21	3/31

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