“Has it gone? Has it gone? Has it gone? Has it gone? It’s gone” – Ian Bishop was commentating in the first ODI between West Indies and Sri Lanka at Port of Spain in 2008 when Chanderpaul managed to pull off a heist with ten required off two balls and only the last man for company. That was Chanderpaul. Known for his stubbornness out there in the middle he could also pull of some unbelievable innings out from nowhere. He was the greatest proof to the fact that there is life beyond the coaching manual. A crab like stance with the back of the bat facing the fielder at the backward point, the little man from Guyana scored over 10000 runs in tests at an average of above fifty in a career spanning over 21 long years. Let us ride through his career with the help of a few numbers.
FACT FILE
NAME: Shivnarine Chanderpaul
BORN: August 16, 1974, Unity Village, East Coast, Demerara, Guyana
MAJOR TEAMS: West Indies, Derbyshire, Durham, Guyana, Guyana Amazon
Warriors, Khulna Royal Bengals, Lancashire, Royal Challengers Bangalore,
Stanford Superstars, Uva Next, Warwickshire, Warwickshire 2nd XI
BATTING STYLE: Left handed
BOWLING STYE: Right arm leg break
CAREER STATS – BATTING & FIELDING
|
Mat
|
Inns
|
NO
|
Runs
|
HS
|
Ave
|
100
|
50
|
Ct
|
|
|
Tests
|
164
|
280
|
49
|
11867
|
203*
|
51.37
|
30
|
66
|
66
|
|
ODIs
|
268
|
251
|
40
|
8778
|
150
|
41.6
|
11
|
59
|
73
|
|
T20Is
|
22
|
22
|
5
|
343
|
41
|
20.17
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
|
First-class
|
349
|
570
|
103
|
25399
|
303*
|
54.38
|
71
|
133
|
185
|
|
List A
|
408
|
380
|
70
|
13031
|
150
|
42.03
|
12
|
96
|
112
|
|
Twenty20
|
81
|
78
|
11
|
1576
|
87*
|
23.52
|
0
|
8
|
24
|
CAREER STATS - BOWLING
|
Mat
|
Inns
|
Balls
|
Runs
|
Wkts
|
BBI
|
BBM
|
Ave
|
SR
|
4w
|
|
|
Tests
|
164
|
43
|
1740
|
883
|
9
|
1/2
|
1/2
|
98.11
|
193.3
|
0
|
|
ODIs
|
268
|
28
|
740
|
636
|
14
|
3/18
|
3/18
|
45.42
|
52.8
|
0
|
|
T20Is
|
22
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
|
First-class
|
349
|
4812
|
2532
|
60
|
4/48
|
-
|
42.2
|
80.2
|
||
|
List A
|
408
|
1681
|
1388
|
56
|
4/22
|
4/22
|
24.78
|
30
|
2
|
|
|
Twenty20
|
81
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
 |
| Chanders: The immovable crab |
(In)Auspicious start
Chanderpaul made his first class
debut for Guyana in his home ground Bourda at a young age of 17. He was run out
for a duck in the first innings and scored ninety in the second innings while
following on (out of 243 when no one crossed fifty). Two years later, he made
his way into the test side. Playing against England at Bourda, he scored 62 in
his only outing. He was just 19 years & 215 days old, thereby making the
third youngest West Indies player to score fifty or more on debut innings.
Second in command
For a major part of his career,
Chanderpaul had to play the second fiddle to Brian Lara. However one
interesting record that the two combined hold is the highest difference between
two scores in the same innings in a test match. When Lara scored the record
breaking 375 against England at St John’s in 1994, the next highest score was
Chanderpaul’s 75* - difference of exactly 300. It is the only instance of a
difference of 300 or more between two scores in the same innings in tests.
First of the 30
India toured West Indies after 8
long years in 1997 under Sachin Tendulkar. In the two dud draws in the first two
tests, Chanderpaul scored 52, 48, 42 and 79. But the elusive three figure score
eluded him even after 18 tests. In the only test match that had a result in the
5-match series, Chanderpaul scored 137* at Bridgetown – his only test hundred
batting in the top three positions. It was just the beginning of the love
affair he was to have with the Indians.
The watershed moment
After 51 tests, Chanderpaul’s
career stats were: 2934 runs at 38.6 with two hundreds and 23 fifties in 85
innings. Hardly earth shattering. His favorite opposition once again visited
the Caribbean shores in the summer of 2002 and in the series which followed, he
just refused to get out. His scores read – 140, 1 & 67*, 101*, 136* and 58
& 59 – 562 runs at 140.5 earning him a Man of the Series award. He batted
for 1513 minutes between his first innings dismissals in the second and fifth
tests – a world record. He went on to bat undismissed for over 1000 minutes
thrice more in his career – 1031 minutes in 2004, 1074 minutes in 2007 and 1115
minutes in 2008.
Century of 69 balls
When your side is reeling at 51/5
against Steve Waugh’s all conquering side of the 2000s, no one expects you to
score a century in 69 balls, especially if your name is Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
But that is exactly what happened at the Bourda in April 2003. In company of
‘Iron Gloves’ Ridley Jacobs, he thrashed the Aussie bowlers to all corners of
the ground. It was then the third fastest hundred in the history of the game
(currently the joint 5th fastest).
The world record chase
Despite of Chanderpaul’s heroic
efforts, West Indies lost that Bourda test as well as the next two tests.
Coming into the fourth test at St John’s in Antigua, they were on the threshold
of facing the ignominy of first whitewash at home. Set to chase 418 in the last
innings writing was on the wall. When Lara departed just after lunch at 165 it
was just a matter of time. Chanderpaul, who was nursing a broken thumb, joined
fellow Guyanese Ramnaresh Sarwan in the middle and batted out the day scoring
103. He added only one more on the fifth morning but that was enough to set up
a West Indian victory at last. West Indies’ 418/7 still remains the highest
successful fourth innings chase in the history of cricket. It was also the last
time West Indies beat Australia in a test match.
Double century on captaincy debut
Chanderpaul was one of the two
players to score a double century on captaincy debut. Leading a depleted side
against the mighty Proteas, he scored an unbeaten 203 on his home ground at
Georgetown, Guyana. The first player to score a double hundred on captaincy
debut was New Zealand’s Graham Dowling (239 vs India, Christchurch, 1968). In
the same innings, opener Wavell Hinds also smashed his first double century. It
was the second and the last time, two West Indians scored double hundreds in
the same innings. The other occasion was when Garfield Sobers made the world
record 365 not out and Conrad Hunte scored 260 in the same innings against
Pakistan in 1958.
One of eight
In the last test match of the
series discussed above, eight hundreds were scored for the first time in a test
match (emulated once later). AB de
Villiers, Graeme Smith, Jack Kallis and Ashwell Prince from South Africa and
Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Dwayne Bravo and Chanderpaul from West Indies
reached the three figure mark.
The Bridgetown classic
Against Pakistan in Bridgetown in
May 2005, Chanderpaul scored 92 in the first innings and an unbeaten 153 in the
second which paved for a rare West Indian victory. It was the second time in
leas then 12 months where he scored a hundred and ninety-odd in the same test.
He was the first player to do it twice (Alistair Cook is the only player to
emulate him since). He has also scored a century and a duck in the same test
thrice – Andrew Strauss being the only other to do so.
The run of seven consecutive fifties
Chanderpaul was the third player
to score fifty or more in seven consecutive innings in tests after Everton
Weekes in 1948/49 and Andy Flower in 2000/01. The record run started in the
second innings of Karachi test against Pakistan where he scored 69. In the
England tour which followed, Chanderpaul scored 74 at Lord’s, 50 and 116* at
Old Trafford and 136* & 70 at Chester-Le-Street. In the Boxing Day test
against South Africa ta Port Elizabeth he scored 104 in the first innings. His
dismissal for 8 in the second innings ended the run. Kumar Sangakkara and Chris
Rogers emulated the feat since.
The 64th loss
In the Kolkata test of 2011 tour
of India, Chanderpaul went past Brian Lara’s dubious record of being in the
losing side of most tests. The Kolkata test was his 64th and he
ended the career with 77 losses. Chanderpaul (5370 runs) and Lara (5316 runs)
are the only ones to score more than 5000 runs in test losses. In the 43 test
losses they featured together, the duo scored 6003 runs combined – more than
any other pair.
203* again
In his second tour to Bangladesh
in 2012, Chanderpaul scored his second test double century. It was the second
time in his career he scored 203* and it remained his career best. 203* is the
joint highest identical career highest score for a batsman. Shoaib Mohammed
also scored 203* twice in his career which remained his personal best.
The late stumping
Chanderpaul was stumped for the
first time in his career in his 266th innings – the most by any
before getting stumped. He was stumped by BJ Watling off Matt Craig at
Bridgetown in 2014. Graeme Smith is at a distant next with 194 innings before
getting stumped. Mahela Jayawardene has played the most innings without ever getting
stumped in tests – 252.
Refusing to get out
When Bangladesh toured the
Caribbean in 2014, Chanderpaul scored 270 runs in the series without getting
dismissed (85*, 84* and 101*). It was the then second highest run aggregate in
a series without getting dismissed (currently third) by a batsman with more
than one innings.
Last bow from test cap #204
Chanderpaul was the 204th
cricketer to play for West Indies. In his last test at Bridgetown, he played
alongside Shai Hope who was the 302nd to represent the West Indies.
The difference of 98 (302 - 204) is the biggest for a side other than England.
A testament to his longevity and consistency!
The perennial not out man
Chanderpaul has remain unbeaten
on a record 49 times – more than any other specialist batsman. Steve Waugh is
next best with 46. The 4094 runs he scored in his not out innings is clearly
ahead of the next played Waugh who has 3318 runs. Chanderpaul remained unbeaten
on 18 of his 30 test hundreds, again another list where he leads. Tendulkar is
next best with 16.
The fulcrum
Batting at number is not the
easiest thing for one to do. You have to farm the strike well and protect the
tail-enders thereby sacrificing your opportunities to score big hundreds (Ask
VVS Laxman). Among batsmen with ten or more innings at number six.
Chanderpaul’s average of 64.82 in the highest. His seven hundreds at #6 is only
behind Gary Sobers and Asad Shafiq.
The explorer
Chanderpaul played his 164 test
matches in 58 separate grounds – second only to Sachin Tendulkar who played in
59 (in 200 tests). He played the most in Kensington Oval in Bridgetown,
Barbados – 19 times. Among away grounds, the most came at Lord’s - five.
Top scoring in each innings
Chanderpaul has top scored for
the West Indies in each innings for a record nine occasions – the joint most
with Ken Barrington and Brian Lara.
The man who saw the most
Chanderpaul has witnessed the
dismissal of 519 partners from the other end in 771 partnerships – the most by
any in both aspects. Rahul Dravid is the distant next with witnessing 453
dismissals in 738 partnerships. Chanderpaul
has played with 105 team mates in his 21 year long career and forged
partnerships with 83 of them – another world record.
Nine in nine
Chanderpaul has taken nine
wickets in his entire test career – all nine coming in separate innings in
separate tests. The next best is Joey Carew with eight followed by Roy
Fredericks and Michael Hussey with seven each.
The man who carried a team on his
shoulders has finally faded into the oblivion without even a farewell test match
like his more illustrated contemporaries. And as a cricket fan and admirer of
Chanderpaul and West Indies cricket of the 1990s and 2000s, I hope his legacy
is carried forward by his son Tagenarine Chanderpaul.
READ:: How his career winded down - Chanderpaul; has the age finally caught up with him: http://cricking.com/chanderpaul-has-age-finally-caught-up-with-him/
