First Bollywood Action Hero – Rohan Kanhai
By the time Rohan Kanhai made his Test debut for the West Indies in 1957 it had only been 9 years since Gandhi led India to Independence and the existance of a relatively small Indian population outside of India in Guyana and Trinidad was practicalluy unknown and not of any importance to anyone who did not belong to this small group.
It is difficult to imagine what it was to be Rohan Kanhai, 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. Rohan Kanhai did it a mannner,and a time and places, that heralded a new world order.
Kanhai was a Leader, his weapon was his bat which was like a flashing blade that he swung viciously through a nearly 360 degree arc. He swung his bat so ferociously that it was Kanhai, only Kanhai, of the thousands of batsmen the world over, who played the “falling hook”. The velocity of his swing lifting him off his feet and throwing 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 !
Kanhai took 13 Tests to score his first Test century but then did so in India, scoring 256 in the 3rd Test Kolkota. Rohan Kanhai had returned in magnificent style to the land that his grandparents had left, to the very city they probably sailed from. His impact thereafter was meteoric.
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 in the pavilion 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. The list is endless.
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. Even Indian movie stars were not as dynamic,Like Bruce Lee, Kanhai transcended race, and so Rohan has been one of the most popular names in Jamaica for boys since the 1960’s.
Cricket writer Harsh Thakor 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 or Greg Chappell (& Brian Lara) surpassed him. However for ability to dominate bowling combined with technical excellence and graceful strokeplay Kanhai defeated all of them. On his day Kanhai would simply caress the best fast bowlers to the boundary with the grace of a weaver or a pianist. The ball would simply zoom to the boundary like a bullet.”
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.”
Ian McDonald, cricket writer and historian wrote : “If I had to choose , I would have chosen above them all Kanhai of Guyana and the West Indies. This batsman has something of all the greatnessess and, in their total combination, I believe surpasses all the others”. ( Bradman,Gary Sobers, George Headley, Brian Lara, Vi Richards, Steve Waugh, Sachin Tendulkar )
Writers Michael Manley and Donna Symonds wrote: “ No more technically correct batsman ever came out of the West Indies than Rohan Kanhai….His average at 47.53 ( 6,227 runs in 137 innings in 79 Tests) is surprising in that he always looked the type of batsman who would have ended up with an average in the high 50s. The explanation lies partly in the relationship between the number of half-centuries that he scored by comparison with the centuries. On 43 occasions Kanhai passed his half-century. Of these he went on to a hundred only 15 times.”
They also said that as Captain “Kanhai is credited with restoring both discipline and morale to the side…and welding the team into an effective force under his leadership”.
At age 37 Kanhai was appointed Captain of the West Indies for the home series against Australia in 1972-73. West Indies lost the five-Test series 2-0 but he led the WI to victiory in England the following summer. winning the three-Test series 2-0.,the first win for WI since 1967 and the beginning of the climb back to the top that was followed through by Clive Lloyd. The next series against England was tied 1-1 and Kanhai retired, because he was not happy with his batting, and amidst the racial and political meddling in the West Indies Team of then Guyana Prime Minister Forbes Burnham.
Only one example of the social turbulence that Kanhai played through. In tribute the great Sunil Gavaskar named his son Rohan, and said of Kanhai, “To say that he is the greatest batsman I have ever seen so far is to put it mildly.”
2010 approaches and all over the world, from New York to Hong Kong and most major cities in between, the Indian diaspora excells with an energy, confidence and dynamism.
Yet in his heyday Kanhai strode alone on the world stage, a cold uninviting place, Without ever appearing in a Bollywood Movie the handsome Rohan Kanhai was the first Bollywood action hero.
by Lloyd Jodah
18 Apr 2010, 9:27 pm
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