5 West Indies cricketers of Indian origin
In a recent report released by the United Nations, the Indian diaspora is by far the largest in the world. But, on the shores of the Caribbean island, the scene is a bit different from rest of the world.
The diaspora included people who were sent there by the British for sugarcane plantation labour in the mid 18th century. These people have been living there for ages now and their identity has somewhat changed. From their accent, food, and clothing, nothing matches that of an Indian or an Indian diaspora residing somewhere else in the world.
The British controlled the game of Cricket and tried to expand it wherever they went and it was no different on the Caribbean shores. These islands joined hands to make a united cricket team and named it West Indies.
West Indies were the undisputed rulers of Cricket from 1970 to the late 1990’s. They had four best fast bowlers in their team who tormented any batting line-ups during their heydays. The group includes Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner and Malcolm Marshall.
Apart from bowlers, the team also produced legendary batsmen who could rip apart any bowling attack. Sir Vivian Richards alone was enough to dismantle any tough bowling attack during that period.
In the name itself “West Indies”, we find “India”. Not only the name but even some of the greatest ever West Indies cricketers were of Indian origin, especially the Indo-Guyanese origin.
Now, here we bring you a list of Indian origin West Indies cricketers who succeeded at the highest level.
#1 – Ramnaresh Sarwan
A batsman who is rated very highly in the cricketing fraternity, Ramnaresh Sarwan broke into the Windies squad against the touring Pakistan and made his debut against them at Barbados in the year 2000.
But despite all his injuries and hiccups throughout his career he has nearly 6000 runs each in both ODIs and Tests. He was involved in one of the greatest ever run chases when West Indies chased down a mammoth 418 against the touring Aussies.
Sarwan along with his Indo-Guyanese teammate, Shivnarine Chanderpaul scored magnificent centuries which enabled the Windies to chase down an improbable victory target of 418. The run chase is still the highest in Test cricket history. He also has 20 international centuries to his name (5 in ODIs and 15 in Tests). Sarwan hails from a Hindu family of Indian descent. His parents’ names are Kishan and Kumari Sarwan.