It is a well-known fact that there is no other international team in the world that gets as much support as the Indian cricket team when they play in foreign soil. In the last decade or so, Indians have also started representing other countries in International cricket with Ish Sodhi, Ravi Bopara etc being a good example. The West Indies cricket team have also had their fair share of Indian representation and in this article, we will look at five such players,
1. Devendra Bishoo
Bishoo comes from a small Hindu community in Guyana, a place where Hindu rituals are still followed to this day. Bishoo doesn’t quite know where exactly his ancestors lived in India as they moved to Guyana during the British rule. Curiously, he is married to a Muslim girl and loves spending time in India’s holy places along with his family. He has played 85 games for West Indies and has more than 150 wickets to his name. He is also a veteran of the Caribbean Premier League and has a superb economy rate of 6.29 in the tournament.
2. Denesh Ramdin
Ramdin is another well-recognized cricketer who comes from the Indo-Guyanese community. Like many others in the list, his ancestors belong to a section of Bhojpuri-speaking groups in UP and Bihar. He has represented West Indies in 76 Tests and was an automatic pick as the Wicket Keeper for a long time. He is an old-fashioned keeper, a cricketer more focused on his keeping than his batting. He also captained West Indies briefly after Chanderpaul’s retirement. Not only that, but he has also played 139 One day Internationals and 71 T-20 games for his country and currently represents St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the CPL.
3. Ramnaresh Sarwan
Sarwan built his career as a very reliable top-order batsman in Test and ODI’s during the first decade of this Millennium. After early struggles in Australia, Sarwan settled his place with some strong performances away from home. His family also comes from the Guyanese community of Indians, but he currently plays for Trinbago Knight Riders. His best performance came against England in 2009 when he scored a magnificent 291 at Bridgetown. He averages over 40 in both Tests and ODI’s and has served his team well on occasions in the T-20 format too.
4. Shivnarine Chanderpaul
The word “underrated” was really synonymous with Chanderpaul during his playing days as his brand of cricket was far from the glitz and glamour of his counterparts and Caribbean legends. Born to Indo-Guyanese parents Kamraj and Uma, Chanderpaul made his test debut at 19 but did not score a single century for almost three years. But he was almost unshakeable at the crease after his initial troubles and went on to score more than 11000 runs for West Indies in Test cricket. Popular for his crab-like stance, Chanderpaul also played over 250 ODI’s for West Indies, averaging over 40.
5. Sunil Narine
One of the few foreigners to have a cult status in India, Narine took the World by storm with his IPL accomplishments which helped KKR to two titles. He was the talk of the town as his economy rate dispelled the myth that spinners can be hit easily in the shortest format. Narine was born in Trinidad, but his family has an Indo-Guyanese connection.
His wife also has connections with India, and he has admitted that India is like his second home in several interviews. After his brief spell out of the limelight due to suspect action, Narine rose back to prominence by opening the batting and surprising everyone with his hitting. He no more induces the same kind of fear among batsmen, but he is still viewed as a world-class cricketer by many of his peers.
