Andre Russell, one of West Indies' most decorated white-ball players, has called time on his international career. While his short-format achievements are well known, few would remember his brief tryst with Test cricket.
Fifteen years ago, when his international career began, Russell was a fresh-faced fast-bowling all-rounder racing up the ranks in Jamaica. His first-class debut came at 19, in the 2007/08 Carib Beer series, where he opened the bowling and batted at nine. He would go on to reprise the same roles on his Test debut too.
His transition into the 20s also coincided with a strife between the West Indies Cricket Board (now CWI) and the West Indies Players Association, so much so that the West Indies carried a completely new-look team to Bangladesh in June 2009. Anyway, that's a different story.
Playing for West Indies A in 2010, he took a five-wicket haul against India A, including the wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey and Manoj Tiwary, also bagging Shikhar Dhawan in the second innings. He followed it up with another five-for in the next game. Earlier the same year, against a touring Ireland team, he hit a century from No.6, smashing 108* off 65. The promise was quite evident.
By November, under new captain Daren Sammy, Russell found a Test spot, weeks after taking a six-for in a List A knockout game.
But it was Gayle – sacked from captaincy – who ended up overshadowing everyone in the Test. A record-breaking 333, a figure now deeply associated with him, was a damning statement to the management, if not anything.
Russell came in at No.9, by which time Gayle had already done the damage. Ajantha Mendis though, produced a belated counter-attack, picking up a rapid six-wicket haul. Russell was his last victim, beaten by a googly.
The start with the ball wasn't as inauspicious.
Sharing the new cherry with Kemar Roach, Russell struck with his second delivery, getting Tillakaratne Dilshan caught at mid-on. As it turned out, it remained his only Test wicket. There was not much success thereafter: he sent down 15 overs, conceding at 4.86. With Sri Lanka following-on, he sent down eight overs for 31 runs. To make it worse, he dropped Kumar Sangakkara in the second innings, although Roach made up for the reprieve soon after. Sri Lanka managed to cling on to a draw.
The West Indies entered the next Test with their tails up, but also amid drama over Shane Shillingford's bowling action. Having seen what Mendis could do, they decided to shore up their spin attack: Shillingford retained his place, joined by Suleiman Benn, who had been facing a one-Test suspension for his run-in with Dale Steyn earlier that year.
Russell was the one who made way, with Roach now combining for the new ball with captain Sammy.
From there on, Russell grew significantly as a white-ball player: his ODI debut came directly in the 2011 World Cup. In only his fifth ODI, he cracked an astonishing 92 off 64 from No.9 against India (still a world record for that position). It would have played a part in his maiden IPL contract the following year; later, at Kolkata Knight Riders, he became an IPL superstar.
He played just six more first-class matches thereafter: in one of those, roughly a year after his Test debut, he smashed 128 off 140 from No.7 against the visiting Bangladesh A, taking a nine-wicket match haul in the following game.
A 2014 Regional Four-Day Competition match turned out to be his final in the format. Overall, he averaged 20.44 with the ball, taking 54 wickets in 17 matches.
Last month, when Virat Kohli called Test cricket “five levels above” after winning his first-ever IPL trophy, Russell fired back, saying "it's totally different being from the West Indies”.
“I was basically pushed out of the Test set-up,” he told The Guardian about his own Test career. “They saw me as more of a white-ball player and that was that.”
When asked if he would trade his T20 career for more Tests, he said: “Honestly? No. I believe in Test cricket, but at the end of the day, I’m a professional. It wasn’t part of my journey. I have no regrets because it wasn’t me that turned my back.”
On Thursday, he called time on his international journey, the same week the West Indies Test team hit a historic low. Sammy, his only Test captain and now their head coach, hoped he "continued to inspire generations to come".
Buried under his legacy as a footnote will always be that one Test at Galle.
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