Shivnarine Chaderpaul: The West Indian Dam

If Rahul Dravid is the “wall” for India, then Shivnarine Chanderpaul can definitely be considered as a West Indian dam. He is one of the most reputed West Indian batsmen and his bat has shielded West Indies against many fierce attacks. Many a times Shiv has won the matches lone-handedly for his team. He is known for dogged style of batting but he can switch gears too. He has to his credit the achievement of being the fourth fastest test hundred getter, which he achieved in just 67 balls against Australia in the 2002-03 series at Bourda, Guyana. When there is wide spread criticism of the fading batting and bowling prowess of the West Indian side Chanderpaul has stood up tall. He has been the anchor man for the West Indies batting for many years now.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul in his Unusual Batting Stance

Shivnarine Chanderpaul made his test debut in 1994 against England. He was alongside Brian Lara during his highest score in an innings knock against England. From the very first series there was no doubt about his skill and commitment. But a problem in his feet barred him from playing long innings. He got his first test century in his 19^th test match having scored 15 half-centuries in the preceding 18 test matches. His first century came against India at Bridgetown, Barbados. He was since then found a special liking for the Indian attack. He has 6 test and 2 ODI hundreds against India. He averages a staggering 67.48 against the Men in Blue. In the latest test series against India he has already scored a hundred and a fifty in the two innings batted.

Chanderpaul & Sarwan During the Highest Run Chase by West Indies

He was also alongside Ramnaresh Sarwan and scored a century to the winning cause to chase down the record total set by Australia in 2002-03. It has to be said in this regard that he had an operation to his leg to fix the problems in early 2000s and since then he was in rich vein of form. He achieved many feats during this time. Shivnarine Chanderpaul became the only player in test history to have gone 1000 test minutes without getting out more than once. He also achieved the feat of facing 1000 balls without getting out.

In terms of his ODI record he has 11 hundreds and has an average of 41.60. One of his most memorable contributions to West Indies cricket in the last few years has been his knocks in the ICC Champions Trophy 2004. His consistent scores helped West Indies to clinch this trophy. The Champions Trophy was the first major ICC trophy won by West Indies after their fall from ascendancy.

Chanderpaul During 2004 ICC Champions Trophy

He became the captain of the West Indies national team in 2005 against West Indies. He captained West Indies in 14 tests and 16 ODIs. He became the second player to make a double century on debut as test captain. He was also included in the ICC twenty member test squad that would face the world champions Australia. He resigned from captaincy in 2006 to concentrate on his batting after having a lean patch with the bat.

He is the most experienced player by a fair margin in the present West Indies team and is the only Indo West Indies player to reach 100 test caps. He is also the second highest run getter in test matches for West Indies. Shivnarine Chanderpaul has an unusual batting stance which is often termed as “back to the wall” yet he manages to cope with all pitch conditions. It proves that class can outbeat the coaching manuals.