Guyana’s highest award should be given to Rohan Kanhai

If you would indulge me, as an extension to my letter about ‘Sonny’ Ramphal, I would add a plea to the President and the Opposition Leader to come together and, since Sir Rohan Kanhai is still alive and living in Florida, show the nation’s respect, admiration and love for this outstanding Guyanese. President Burnham once recognized and awarded Kanhai but that was years ago but now we have hindsight and timesight and if one loves cricket, then you have to love Babu - therefore the highest award that Guyana possesses should be given to that great sportsman who single-handedly put Guyana on the world cricket map, long before anyone else. He was the Elvis Presley of cricket.

Cricket was always the game we all loved and Rohan Kanhai was our hero - every time he was at the crease, we were huddling around radios, listening to the commentators beautifully creating a picture in your mind with Babu at centre stage; and he always delivered those wonderful shots, sometimes on his knee, sometimes on his back - mesmerizing the crowd. Many times he lost his wicket when his score was in the 90s’ and that’s because he didn’t poke and huddle but always struck out with beautiful batting. Sir Garfield Sobers’ team was the best West Indian team ever and Rohan Kanhai was the star batsman on the team. If Babu was playing today in 20/20 cricket, he would be the best in the world - this type of cricket was made for him. At a personal level ,I always remember him at the Tower Hotel where all the ladies would want to meet him as he hung out there, always a gentleman and dressed clean as a whistle and sharp as a knife; I remember when in an on and off drizzly day, in a test match at Bourda, he pulverized the bowling with lovely shots. Sunil Gavaskar endorsed the notion that Kanhai was the world’s greatest batsman, even though he would be in that consideration.

Editor, cricket is still the game which unites us and makes us excited and happy and it is only right that the nation of Guyana honour this great Guyanese who tirelessly worked to provide brilliant creative batting we all appreciated and were proud of; he was the first Guyanese to really stand out in world class cricket and he remained indispensable to West Indian cricket, eventually becoming Captain. Since we are now an oil producing country, we should also establish “the Golden Bat” and Sir Rohan Kanhai should be the first recipient to receive a real golden bat - he deserves it. Let this nation honour our cricket maestro - please, Mr Government, the highest award and the golden bat for Sir Rohan, and while you consider it, please fix perfectly the Rohan Kanhai cricket ground in Port Mourant so maybe we can get another Babu.