20 batsmen whose Test average never dipped below 40: Part 1

(13) Alvin Kallicharran (West Indies): 1972-1980

Alvin Kallicharran: the most underrated West Indian batsman of all time.

Matches: 66, Runs: 4399, Average: 44.43, Highest: 187, 100/50: 12/21.

Lowest Career Average: 44.31 (66th Test)

There are not a lot of players in world cricket that can lay claim to the elegance with which Alvin Kallicharran batted. A diminutive man, Alvin was destructive off both the front foot and the back foot.

Kallicharran made his test debut against New Zealand in 1972 and scored a fighting century. The left-hander made a hundred in his next test innings as well and finished the series with 2 hundreds to his name.

Kallicharran took a special liking to the Indian bowlers and is one of the few batsmen to have done well in India. He scored 992 runs in India at an average of 58. Kallicharran led the West Indies team in absence of Clive Lloyd, who had quit due to the Packer controversy. He led the team in 9 tests, winning 1 and losing 2 of them.

Captaincy did not seem to affect Alvin's batting as he scored 811 runs at an average of 54 while donning the captain's hat. His highest score of 187 also came when being the captain of the side.

Kallicharran was a very vital cog in the West Indies team that dominated world cricket in the 1970s. It is a shame then that he does not get enough credit for it. The Southpaw played 66 tests in his career, scoring 4399 runs at an average of 44.43.

Kallicharran scored 13 hundreds in his career, but failed to kick on to a double ton and crossed 150 only twice in his career.

Kallicharran's lowest career average of 44.31 came in his 66th test, which also turned out to be his last. He was going through a bad patch and was dropped from the team in controversial fashion.

He scored 12* in his final test innings against Pakistan at Multan in 1980. Kallicharran made the trip to South Africa in 1982 as a part of the rebel tour, thus ending any chance of a comeback to international cricket.