কেভিন ও'ব্রায়েন

The first centurion for Ireland in Test cricket or the whirlwind knock in the 2011 World Cup against England? The Irish fans will sound confused if you pose them with such a question. However, they will come up with one name - Kevin O'Brien.

But Kevin and making history dates back to that fateful day in 2011. His pyrotechnics took centerstage which helped Ireland shock England and the rest of the cricketing fraternity. The beast named Kevin O' Brien had arrived.

The younger of the O' Brien borthers, made his debut in the 2004 Under-19 World Cup and guided his nation to the semi-final stage of the tournament. He ended the tournament with 241 runs and that told everyone about the prodigy that he was.

The burly all-rounder made his ODI debut against England and scored 35 off 48 balls batting at No. 8, but showed that he had plenty of potential. Kevin blossomed in the 2007 World Cup with consistent if not match-winning performances with both bat and ball. He tallied 170 runs from 8 games and picked up 3 wickets in the mega event.

Spurred on by initial success, the younger of the O’Brien brothers went on to become a key allrounder for his country. But, it was only in the 2011 World Cup that he realised his full potential on a dazzling night. Kevin scored 198 runs and picked up four wickets in that showpiece event. His exploits were duly noted and England county side, Gloucestershire offered him a deal for the ODI and T20 championships.

At the start of 2012, Kevin was made Ireland's vice captain, taking over the role from Trent Johnston. Cricket Ireland then increased the number of players with contracts from 15 to 23 and Kevin was one of four players to be given a category A contract. A temperamental character, Kevin In february 2012, during a tour to Kenya, was fined 20% of his match fee for using offensive language when leaving the field after being bowled.

In 2013, he smashed an unbeaten 84 off 47 balls against Pakistan, securing a tie against the Asian giant showcasing more of his giant-slaying skills. In the same year, he captained Leinster Lightning in the Irish interpro series. These fine efforts resulted in him being awarded the ICC Associate and Affiliate Cricketer of the Year award for 2013. The following year, he led the team to a series win against Scotland in September 2014, hitting successive fifties.

But lean scores in the 2015 World Cup meant Ireland were short om decimal points as Windies qualified for the quarters all thanks to a better NRR. However, his crucial 50 in a tense games against UAE had helped Ireland to a win. In the T20Is, Ireland failed to make it to the top 10 of the 2016 T20 WC and again runs dried up for the Irish all-rounder. Ireland also had to face a shock defeat at the hands of Oman.

But then the fight for qualification for the 2019 WC started and with ICC announcing only 10 teams will feature in it, Ireland had their task cut-out. But unfortunately they could not make the cut as Windies and Afghanistan progressed to the next round. Kevin though had good numbers as he notched up 194 runs from 6 games at a strike-rate of more than 125.

By Kumar Abhisekh Das

As of May 2018