Kraigg Brathwaite

In an era when white-ball cricket has pulled players in every direction, Kraigg Brathwaite built an entire international career going the other way entirely. The Barbadian opener never played a single T20 at the professional level. He dedicated himself wholly to Test cricket at a time when that kind of specialisation became increasingly rare, and in doing so became one of West Indies' most important batters of his generation.

Brathwaite made his first-class debut for Barbados at just 16. He was thrust into the senior West Indies setup later that same year, when a dispute over pay led several established players to boycott a tour of Bangladesh. He had to wait until 2011 for his actual Test debut, a modest outing against Pakistan that ended in a heavy defeat. From there, though, he gradually grew into the role of an opener built for patience and long occupation of the crease rather than quick scoring.

In 2016, during a Test against Pakistan in Sharjah, he achieved something no opener in the format's history had managed before, carrying his bat through both innings of the same match to help West Indies to an overseas win. He played a key role in another famous West Indies victory the following year, scoring a century and a near-century as the side pulled off an unexpected win over England at Headingley. By 2021, with Jason Holder stepping back from the Test captaincy, Brathwaite had already deputised in the role several times. He was handed it permanently after leading an inexperienced West Indies side to a surprise series win in Bangladesh.

The following year, a prolific run with the bat, including a century in Perth against Australia, earned him a place in the ICC's Test Team of the Year for 2022. He went on to lead the side in 39 Tests before stepping down in 2025. The same year Brathwaite became only the 10th West Indian to play 100 Tests, a milestone he described as something he could barely have believed possible when he started 14 years earlier. Just days later, though, he was dropped from the XI for the first time in over a decade, and within months lost both his central contract and his place in the squad entirely.