Opinion Sonny Ramadhin was the first West Indian Test cricketer of Indian origin. His exploits paved the way for many others
They remained friends till the last: Two men joined by fate, who scripted their own destiny, and lived lives that were the stuff of dreams.
Ramadhin was just 19 when he toured England in 1950. In his second Test, at Lord’s, he took 11 wickets to lead the West Indies to a famous victory. 
When slavery ceased in the British Carribean in 1833, the sugarcane planters, facing labour shortage, first turned to the African Americans and Chinese, before turning to India. Among those huddled in a ship to Trinidad was a man, whose grandson Sonny Ramadhin would become the first West Indian of Indian extraction to play international cricket. In his debut series, he would scythe through the formidable English team to record West Indies’s first ever major series triumph over the colonial masters. Full-sleeved, buttoned at the wrist, the mystery spinner would twist out magical orbs from his raised fist, first for the native country and then the adopted land. Joyous calypsos were sung in his honour and nationalistic poems composed to celebrate his success. In a reflection of changing times, Ramadhin would live out his post-retirement life in England, married to a local lady, until his death at 92 on February 27.
Ramadhin was just 19 when he toured England in 1950. In his second Test, at Lord’s, he took 11 wickets to lead the West Indies to a famous victory. In public imagination, he would forever be entwined with the then 20-year-old Alf Valentine — together they took 59 wickets in that series. The off-break was his stock ball, the leg-break and the straight one were the variations, and a slow ball that dipped rapidly the sucker punch. He would never recapture the dizzying heights of the debut series though he would finish his Test career with 158 wickets from 43 matches.
For nearly 25 years after the 1970s, the paths of pals, Ramadhin and Valentine, didn’t cross. Ramadhin ran a pub in England, Valentine lived in Florida, acting as surrogate parent for abused and abandoned children of parents in prison. One day, Valentine walked into Ramadhin’s pub and it was like the old times again. They remained friends till the last: Two men joined by fate, who scripted their own destiny, and lived lives that were the stuff of dreams.
This editorial first appeared in the print edition on March 2, 2022 under the title ‘The pioneer’.
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