Ramnaresh Sarwan’s perplexing position in the leadership of the West Indies team took another, probably, final twist yesterday.
Pre-ordained as a future captain when he was named Brian Lara’s deputy five years ago, a role confirmed after he was eventually elevated to the role on Lara’s retirement following last year’s World Cup, Sarwan was returned to the ranks yesterday, reportedly on his own volition.
He was replaced as vice-captain to Chris Gayle by wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin, a former youth team skipper, for the two 20/20 Internationals and the five ODIs for the current tour of New Zealand.
No explanation for the move was provided by the selectors in a terse media release from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), listing only the names of players chosen. But a later report from the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) stated that “Sarwan had stepped down for personal reasons”.
A Test player at 19, now 28-year-old veteran of 72 Tests and 136 ODIs and key number three batsman, Sarwan has been Gayle’s deputy throughout the year, in the home series against Sri Lanka and Australia last season, leading the team when Gayle was out injured in the first two Tests against Australia, and in the recent ODIS in Toronto and Abu Dhabi.
He had already been reappointed to the position for the forthcoming two Tests in New Zealand but now Ramdin, returning to the team after he was omitted from previous the ODI series in Toronto and Abu Dhabi, regains the deputy’s position he was first given in his initial series in Sri Lanka in 2005.
Sarwan lost the vice-captaincy two years after his initial appointment, when he and five others, Lara among them, withdrew from the first Test against South Africa in a row over individual sponsorship rights with the WICB.
When the disagreement with the WICB was settled and Lara and Sarwan returned, both lost their positions, as Shivnarine Chanderpaul took over as captain.
The pendulum swung once more after Chanderpaul, under pressure and clearly uncomfortable in the role, quit in 2006 to concentrate on his batting. Back came Lara as captain with Sarwan as his second-in-command.
Another jolt awaited Sarwan later that year. Even as vice-captain, he was dropped from the team for the second Test in Pakistan, Lara stating that “we just wanted to make him aware of the situation” and that “we need him and we need him to take control.”
It was portent for a year of misfortune that eventually cost him the captaincy that he had assumed on the tour of England last year, following Lara’s retirement. He dislocated his shoulder so seriously at Headingley in his second Test at the helm that he took no further part in the tour.
Fit again, he led the team in the disastrous campaign in the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 Championship, when the West Indies compiled over 200 against South Africa and were still easily beaten before being knocked out by Bangladesh.
Sarwan would probably have been retained for the back-to-back series in Zimbabwe and South Africa later that year, but a foot injury sustained in a training session prior to a KFC Cup Regional one-day match, eliminated him from the tour altogether.
Gayle took over, as he had done successfully in the ODI series in England six months earlier, and once the West Indies won their first Test under him, and their first in nine Tests in South Africa, it was clear that he had the inside rail for the captaincy whenever Sarwan returned.
It was a friendly rivalry, each stating that he would support the other whoever was favoured.
It was Gayle but injury soon struck him down as well, in the final ODI against Sri Lanka, and thrust Sarwan temporarily back into the role against Australia.
Gayle resumed once he recovered from his groin injury with Sarwan as his deputy. So it remained until yesterday.
