Sars didn't live up to his potential? No, WICB just don't know how to manage people.
Sars debuted at like 19 years old. Guys like Sanga, Joe Root, Ian Bell etc debut at like 22 and 23.
Sars hit his first ton at 21. That's a third of his career gone (about 28 matches) before he learns to hit a ton. A third of his career the stats judge as "mediocre" when he's still a baby and learning to play internationally.
But from this point onwards, Sars hits a ton every 3.5ish games until he was kicked off the team. It's obvious to everyone who watched his career that the fruits of sticking with such a young player were paying off. The guy had learned to craft tons and double tons, he had withered the last of the great bowling attacks of the 1990s (Murali, Warne, Donald, Pollock, McGrath, Ntini) and was about to start cashing in (he has like 4 tons vs South Africa in his last 2 series against them) on modern bowlers.
But then they drop him.
WI thought they had another Tendulkar with Sarwan. He was hyped up as a maverick teenager (is he the still the youngest to play for WI?). But what the WICB had was someone like Sanga (or Dilshan), a player who blossomed when he hit 30 years old.
But the whole make-up of the team sucked in those days. You had random guys like Brendan Nash, Ganga and Devon Smith constantly moving in and out of the team. After Lara left, the only constants were Gayle, Chanders and Ramdin. Three kids and a passive slow poke. What are they supposed to do?
Lara entered a team with Ritchie, Haynes, Greenidge and Viv. That's at least 4 old timer batsmen to lean on.
Sars entered a sinking ship and was expected to be a savior.
Quote:I understand and would venture that Richie IMO was a better ODI bat than Sarwan
Richie was a totally annoying ODI bat. He sucked hard unless he was playing hardcore dangerous Pak and Aus attacks. He and Kieth Atherton and Simmons used to annoy me, especially in World Cup games.