Ramnaresh Sarwan

Born on 23 June, 1980, Sarwan is of Indo-Guyanese origin. He had a memorable start to his Test career with a superb innings of 84 against Pakistan at the age of 19. He followed it up with a decent series in England. It was a real surprise for the followers of the game when he failed miserably against Australia, only managing 3 runs in 5 innings.

He finally managed to register his first Test century against Bangladesh in 2002. His next ton came in a match that has been etched in memory. West Indies chased down 418 against the then No. 1 Test team, Australia at St. Johns, a feat that has not been broken as yet.

Sarwan's best seems to be reserved against England and South Africa. He has scored 9 of his 15 Test tons against these two countries. Sarwan had a dream 2004 racking up a thousand runs in the calender year. It also included a mammoth unbeaten 261 against Bangladesh.

It was also a period of time where West Indies competed well in the one day form of the game, they reached the finals of the Natwest series and won the Champions Trophy in 2004. Sarwan played crucial roles in the success of the team. However, he was one amongst several players embroiled in a controversy over contracts with the West Indian board and missed the first Test against South Africa in 2005. Injuries and loss of form proved detrimental as he was dropped from the squad for a period of time.

When Brian Lara retired after the World Cup hosted by West Indies, it was natural for Sarwan to be named the new skipper. However, a spate of injuries and loss of form meant that the captaincy was short lived.

During the second Test in the West Indies tour of England in May 2007, Sarwan injured his shoulder when he collided with the boundary fence while attempting to cut off a boundary. The injury was serious enough to rule him out of the remainder of the tour and for a further ten months. Sarwan returned to the West Indies side in 2008 for the home series against Sri Lanka, as vice-captain to Chris Gayle. Throughout the series Sarwan showed excellent form with the bat, looking very fluent and scoring over 50 in four consecutive innings, including a match-winning century, at an average of 77.75.

He followed this with more then 600 runs against the touring Englishmen in early 2009 which included a superb 291 at Barbados.

In 2010, Sarwan lost out on the central contract as a result of insipid form and fitness. With his differences with the WICB swelling to a crescendo, Sarwan concentrated on building his stint with Leicestershire. He turned out to be a top acquisition for the English County side, scoring a avalanche of runs.

In a surprise, he was called back for the limited overs leg of West Indies' tour to Australia in 2013. He could only eke out 12 runs in the 3 ODIs he played. With his international career all but over, Sarwan signed up with Leicestershire, stamping his return as their overseas player in 2014.

Interesting stat: At the age 28 years, 228 days he became the youngest West Indian to reach the 5000 runs milestone when he scored a century against England in Jamaica in 2009.

By Pradeep Krishnamurthy