By Lloyd Jodah
Dec. 24th, 2009
Word was Santa didn't come to poor homes but in 1935 there was proof that he did, even it was a bit late : on December 26th 1935 he brought a gift to the Kanhai home in the village of Port Mourant in British Guiana (now Guyana), a baby boy named Rohan Kanhai.Like every Guyanese boy (especially of Indian heritage) he crawled, learned to walk then began to play cricket ( not neccessarily in that order ).

By the time Rohan Kanhai made his Test debut for the West Indies in 1957 it had only been nine years since Gandhi led India to Independence and few knew of the existance of a small Indian population outside of India, in Guyana and Trinidad, and fewer cared. Contrast that with now when from New York to London to Hong Kong and countless cities in between, people of Indian ethnicity play active and major roles at all professional levels, doctors, IT professionals, engineers etc. From finding water on the moon, to the corriders of any American hospital, you can't help but be struck by the breadth and accomplishments of India and the Indian diaspora around the world.

It is difficult to imagine what it was to be Rohan Kanhai,back when Guyana and the West Indies were segregated, not only by Black and White but also Indian.

Rohan Kanhai strode onto the world stage and acted like he belonged, not with a personal arrogance but with the assertiveness of his batting. He played in a mannner,and a time, and places, that heralded a New World Order. Kanhai was a pioneer and a leader, his weapon was his bat which was like a flashing blade that he swung viciously through a nearly 360 degree arc. Of the thousands of batsmen the world over,it was only Kanhai who played the "falling hook". The velocity of his swing lifted him off his feet and threw him on his back as he completed the shot ! The Lightsabers of the Star Wars Trilogy must have been inspired by Kanhai's flashing blade ! Kobe Bryant may dunk like Michael Jordan bot NO batsman before, or since, plays the "falling hook".

Kanhai took 13 Tests to score his first Test century but then did so in India, scoring 256 in the 3rd Test in Kolkota. Rohan Kanhai had returned in magnificent style to the land that his grandparents had left, to the very city they may have sailed from. His impact thereafter was meteoric, in Pakistan on the same Tour, in Australia in 1960-61, and JS Barker's book "Summer Spectacular" rhapsodizes about Kanhai's batting in England in 1963, particularly his 77 which won the Oval Test for the West Indies.

Here is what literary giant CLR James said:
“I take Kanhai as the high peak of West Indian cricketing development. .....He discovered, created a new dimension in batting .....Kanhai’s batting is a unique pointer of the West Indian quest for identity.

About a Kanhai innings CLR James wrote :
"Kanhai had found his way into regions Bradman never knew. It was not only the technical skill and strategic generalship that made the innings the most noteworthy I have seen. There was more to it, to be seen as well as felt. Bradman was a ruthless executioner of bowlers. All through this demanding innings Kanhai grinned with a grin that could be seen a mile away."

The great West Indies Allrounder Sir Learie Constantine said: "Some of his colleagues ..who have played with him for years have seen strokes that they have never seen before: from him or anybody else."

Hopefully we grow beyond ethnic identity but there is no question that as kids our aspirations can be shaped by being able to identify with accomplished people who look like ourselves.More African Americans believe they can become President because of President Obama. Bruce Lee inspired millions of Chinese kids.For a boy of Indian etnicity in the Caribbean Kanhai was the perfect action Hero - even as Muhammed Ali was a hero for what seemed like most of the world, Kanhai was our hero. Not even Indian movie stars were not as dynamic, Like Bruce Lee, Kanhai transcended race, and so,as an evidence,Rohan has been one of the most popular names in Jamaica for boys since the 1960's.

Cricket writer Harsh Thakor once wrote "If Statistics was not the prime criteria and the chief criteria was the technical excellence, style or raw ability of a player then my vote for greatness after Bradman would go to Rohan Kanhai.
Statistically Everton Weekes, Gary Sobers,Sunil Gavaskar, Vivian Richards, Sachin Tendulkar (Brian Lara) or Greg Chappell surpassed him. However for ability to dominate bowling combined with technical excellence and graceful strokeplay Kanhai defeated all of them".

Ousman Ali said: "His dominance over pace and spin was phenomenal; he possessed the best defence among his contemporaries but was commensurately devastating with shots all around the wicket including his trade-mark and inimitable falling hook shot."

In comparing players from different eras fans talk of the pressures of playing more cricket now, without acknowledging the benfits of playing more.They know little of the higher social pressures of playing against racism and low boxed-in expectations. Glimpses exist nowadays as when the Australian Press calls for the banishment of the West Indies from Test Cricket or the anger at the BCCI's domiinance of the the game. In Kanhai's playing days there was no escape, it was everywhere in society. The West Indies Team of the 19960's, especially under Sir Frank Worrell, actually played against the divisiveness of race and insularity,even within their home territories of the Caribbean.

Imagine the insecurity of playing cricket and not knowing how you'll feed yourself, or your family. Kanhai pioneered a solution to that too by leading the way to playing professionally (and with great success) in English County Cricket - many followed from all the cricket playing countires.