It’s been six years since Adrian Barath decided to take a one-year sabbatical from cricket, never to return. There has been constant speculation on the reason such a talented player quit at the age of 24. Several stakeholders recently weighed in on his mysterious exit in 2014 with their various theories.
For the first time since playing a four-day match against Jamaica in April 2014, Barath addressed the topic publicly, albeit quite briefly.
He told Newsday, on Thursday, in a WhatsApp message, “There is nothing more to my decision than simply, moving on.”
Barath’s retirement will forever be considered premature but cricket fans around the world will remember all he achieved after making his national debut at age 16.
The former attacking opening batsman played 15 Test matches and finished his career with one century, four half-centuries and an average of 23.46. His Test debut goes down in history for not only being the youngest West Indian to score a century on debut – age 19 – but also the youngest player ever to reach triple figures against Australia, beating one of his idols, Sachin Tendulkar, who did it 18 years prior.
Barath also played 14 one-day internationals with one century and one fifty at an average of 30.30.
His TT career was also record-breaking, making his debut at age 16 and sharing a record-breaking opening partnership with Daren Ganga. The right-hander took little time to make more history, notching his maiden first class century in the very next match to become the second youngest player in the region to achieve that feat.
He’s scored 3,176 first class runs from 58 matches with seven hundreds and 17 half-centuries and a decent 32.40 average. His List A stats include one century and four fifties. The Enterprise, Chaguanas native has played in the Indian Premier League, Caribbean Premier League and Caribbean T20 Tournament.(Reprinted from Trinidad Newsday)
