Kanhai should have been allowed a proper retirement final match

Dear Editor,
Reference is made to a letter about Rohan Kanhai. Ivan John is right that Rohan Kanhai was dropped from WIndies team to tour India without justifiable reason. Kanhai made himself available for the 1974-75 tour of India, having just tied the series against England as Captain and defeated England in England. But the West Indies selectors dropped Kanhai for the India tour saying it wanted youths. India was going to be Kanhai’s last tour and wanted to retire on a high. But he was not allowed to retire honourably, not different from how Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Alvin Kalicharran and Ramnaresh Sarwan were ill-treated and discarded. Clive Lloyd was the common denominator with regards to all four players.
Kanhai was approaching 39 but still scoring well in first class games. Clive Lloyd was selected as Kanhai’s replacement as Captain although he had not performed as well as Kanhai in first class matches around that time.
Also, Kanhai made himself available for the inaugural 1975 Prudential World Cup played in England. But he was not selected. The selectors said they wanted youths, but Garfield Sobers (slightly older than Kanhai) was selected as a member of the team and made the trip to England. In his last first class (test) series, Sobers batted five times and scored 100 runs total for an average of 20. His highest score was 57 and scored a duck in front of his home crowd in Barbados; he also had a duck in the first innings in the final test in Trinidad.
In the 1974 county season in England, Sobers scored 1110 in 28 innings with an average of 48. He also took 29 wickets for an average of 32. In 1974, Kanhai scored 936 runs in 22 innings for an average of 52. Later that year, Kanhai also played five first class matches in South Africa scoring 476 runs for an average of 95, taking his first class tally to about 1400 runs and an overall average of 62 for 1974. In the 1975 season, Kanhai scored 1073 runs for an average of 83. Sobers did not play in the local Shell Shield tournament in 1975 or county matches in England and was a surprised selection as a member of the WIndies team for the World Cup.
Australian speedsters Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson, both of whom had a reputation of injuring batsmen, warned they would have no mercy on the “old man” in the world cup. Sobers subsequently withdrew from the tour after playing some practice matches. He suggested that Kanhai be called up as his replacement. Other names mentioned included Maurice Foster or David Holford – both of whom were considered as all rounders. Kanhai was in form and still at the top of his game. Eventually, the selectors opted for the reliable Kanhai who was playing county cricket (Warwickshire) at the time, at age 39. And Kanhai did not disappoint. He helped WIndies win the final. Sobers announced his retirement from first class cricket.
Kanhai made himself available for the tour to Australia later that year. He was not selected. He went to Australia and played in domestic cricket performing very well. WIndies lost the first test but won the second and lost the third. Vivian Richards was consistently failing and it was suggested by commentators that Kanhai should be brought in as his replacement given that he was present in Australia and was playing well at age 40. But it was not to be. Richards failed again in the fourth test but found form in the fifth and sixth tests. Kanhai continued playing county cricket well into the 1980s and scoring many more runs.
In 1984, Americans were fortunate to see Kanhai in action. He led a West Indies team (that included Kalicharran) in a match against an Indian team (led by Sunil Gavaskar and that included Gundappa Vishwanauth, and other retired test cricketers) played in New Jersey. Gavaskar’s 11 won. Both Kanhai and Kalicharran scored freely in the game and Kanhai took a brilliant catch in the slips (think it was Gavaskar’s wicket) showing he was still agile at 48. Kanhai should not have been dumped without an opportunity for a final goodbye match. Kalli, Shiv, Sarwan, Brian Lara all got the same treatment.

Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram