Kanhai, Lloyd or Kallicharran?

[mr_mister]

In about a 30 year span, from Sobers' break out 365 in the late 50s to Viv's dominance from the mid 70s to the mid 80s, these 3 guys to me were next best behind the 2 ATGs as the best middle order bats the Windies could offer.


Who was the best of them?


They only had a slight overlap of all playing together, but Lloyd spent lengthy time partnering both of them.

Their raw stats:

Kanhai: 79 matches, 6627 runs @ 47 with 15 tons
Lloyd: 110 matches, 7515 runs @ 46 with 19 tons
Kallicharran: 66 matches, 4399 runs @ 44 with 12 tons

When all 3 played together (11 matches):

Kanhai: 549 runs @ 34 with 1 ton
Lloyd: 762 runs @ 47 with 2 tons
Kallicharran: 832 runs @ 46 with 2 tons


Kanhai and Lloyd (28 matches):

Kanhai: 2106 runs @ 46 with 4 tons
Lloyd: 1968 runs @ 43 with 5 tons


Lloyd and Kallicharran (53 matches):

Lloyd: 3588 runs @ 44 with 10 tons
Kallicharran: 3432 runs @ 42 with 10 tons




So, other than a a very old Kanhai when all 3 briefly played together performing slightly subpar, they all seemed to go about as well as each other when together.

Their career stats are quite similar too, it's hard to split them using figures. So are we choosing?

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

A full-on Guyanese thread.

Nice.

It's Kanhai

 

[honestbharani]

Going by purely what I have heard and read, Kanhai.

I mean, you gotta been good for Sunny to name his kid after you.

 

[AndyZaltzHair]

Rohan Kanhai one of the most aesthetically pleasing batsmen

 

[Himannv]

Kanhai easily.

 

[Line and Length]

Admired the grace of Kanhai and the power of Lloyd. Can't split them.

 

[Aritro]

Going by purely what I have heard and read, Kanhai.

I mean, you gotta been good for Sunny to name his kid after you.

Why Sunil Gavaskar named his son after West Indies great Rohan Kanhai

Sunil Gavaskar said Rohan Kanhai used to "secretly encourage" him during his debut series, whispering in his ear if other West Indies players were not within earshot.

indianexpress.com

“Apart from his batsmanship, (why I respected Rohan Kanhai so much was because of) how he secretly encouraged me. There’s always been this issue between African-origin people and Indian-origin people in Trinidad, Guyana,” Gavaskar said on being asked to speak about naming his son after the West Indies great.


Kanhai, a Guyanese, was the first Indian-origin player to captain the West Indies, and the second after Sonny Ramadhin to play for the West Indies.

Gavaskar said, “In my debut series, if I played a bad shot, when crossing over me to go to the slips for the next over, if he was not within earshot of the wicketkeeper, he would whisper in my ear: ‘Concentrate! Don’t you want a 100? What’s the matter with you?'”

“He’s in the opposition, he’s not swearing at me, he actually wants me to get a 100. Unbelievable!” he said.

Interesting.

 

[Gob]

definitely Lloyd maybe

 

[_00_deathscar]

Why Sunil Gavaskar named his son after West Indies great Rohan Kanhai

Sunil Gavaskar said Rohan Kanhai used to "secretly encourage" him during his debut series, whispering in his ear if other West Indies players were not within earshot.

indianexpress.com

“Apart from his batsmanship, (why I respected Rohan Kanhai so much was because of) how he secretly encouraged me. There’s always been this issue between African-origin people and Indian-origin people in Trinidad, Guyana,” Gavaskar said on being asked to speak about naming his son after the West Indies great.


Kanhai, a Guyanese, was the first Indian-origin player to captain the West Indies, and the second after Sonny Ramadhin to play for the West Indies.

Gavaskar said, “In my debut series, if I played a bad shot, when crossing over me to go to the slips for the next over, if he was not within earshot of the wicketkeeper, he would whisper in my ear: ‘Concentrate! Don’t you want a 100? What’s the matter with you?'”

“He’s in the opposition, he’s not swearing at me, he actually wants me to get a 100. Unbelievable!” he said.

Interesting.

If you listen closely to the stump mics, it’s what the English fielders were saying to Rahane and Pujara last test hoping they’d score some dead runs and continue to stink out the team for the next 5 series.

 

[Engle]

Lloyd with his flowing follow-thru personified power + poise and was aesthetically the more pleasing.
Kanhai exuded authority and mastery.
Close call, I'm giving it to Kanhai, he was the quintessential #3 batsman with over 4800 Test runs at 52+ average

 

[SillyCowCorner1]

Kallicharan was more of a run-machine tho.

There is a crossing in the backdams where I grew up called the ‘Kallicharan Cross’.

Punts of harvested sugarcane would pass under this bridge on their journey to the sugar factory.

 

[Coronis]

Kanhai definitely.

 

[kyear2]

Kanhai was seen as the clear no 2 behind Sobers when they played together, and it must have been hyperbole and the stats would never bear it out. But there was some who though Kanhai almost the equal of the great Barbadian.