Shiv Chanderpaul - An Obstinate Champion

Shiv Chanderpaul

Mumbai. November 14th. Sachin Tendulkar will play his 200th and final test match against West Indies. In what is probably a case of a contrived Test series, there is something more to look forward to. One certain unassuming man will be playing his 150th test as the world will be going gaga over Sachin’s final bow. Quite fitting to the reputation he has garnered till date. That man is Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

As the Mumbai test will come to a close, Shiv Chanderpaul along with Jacques Kallis will be the last lot of cricketers from the 1990s group. In spite of him having a career spanning a good part of 19 years and being an elite member of the 10000 runs club, It has been almost easy to miss him.

He is like that one kid in school who always has the best of ideas, but never gets good marks in his essays as he doesn’t use aesthetically pleasing words and has an incorrigible handwriting (Read Chanderpaul’s Technique). He is like that one person in office who does all the hard work and slogs it for long hours, but never gets the recognition as his team mates are disinterested or untalented, and hence the team always fails (read the decline of West Indies, coinciding with Chanderpaul’s entry into Test Cricket).

As the West Indies team transformed from the Walsh-Ambrose-Lara-Jimmy Adams era to the Roach-Rampaul-Darren Bravo-Marlon Samuels era, Shiv Chanderpaul has been the rock which has tried to bring some serenity in a rather turbulent landscape. He was the duct-tape which tried to mend the ever widening cracks that had developed in West Indies Cricket over the last 2 decades. He has carried the burden of his team for so long that he might have put Atlas to shame.

Chanderpaul has the highest number of caps for a West Indian player. He has the third longest test career in West Indian history, in terms of time. Only Allan Border and Rahul Dravid have scored more runs than him at a lesser strike rate. His batting was based on solidity, longevity and a single-mindedness that enabled him to survive the tough entrails of Test Cricket despite his awkward looking technique.

Batting undefeated for 1000 minutes on the trot is one of the pinnacles of concentration and Test Match batsmanship. Chanderpaul has done it four times in his career. He is also the only player to have faced 1000 deliveries in test cricket without being dismissed. Known for his frugality with the bat, he also holds the bragging rights to one of the fastest centuries in Test Cricket. His 69 ball 100 against Australia in Guyana, in 2003, is among the finest knocks by a West Indian.

He has 28 test tons to his name, out of which 8 have been in losing causes. Only Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar have more in losses. He also has 30 half centuries in losing causes, which is the maximum for a test player, by a long way. Shiv Chanderpaul might just be the most defeated man in Test Cricket, but is equally resolute and indefatigable.

Chanderpaul sets foot on Indian shores for the fourth time in his career and does so with an impressive record behind him. He has a batting average of 54.55 in 6 matches in India, with 2 centuries. His overall record against India is even better (Including Home matches). He averages 65.74 over 23 matches with 7 centuries. Shiv Chanderpaul is one of the few players who have conquered the sub-continent conditions of India and its spinners. Though he is 39, and possibly in the twilight of his career, West Indies will be looking to him to lead the way for his team with the bat yet again.

With all pressure off and the West Indies merely playing a side-act in the Sachin Farewell Series, we might get to see some Chanderpaul quality doggedness and run-making from his willow. Sadly, regardless of the runs he scores or matches he might win for his team in this series, there won’t be many to applaud and acknowledge it. Story of Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s life.

When Chanderpaul made his debut 19 years ago amidst the tatters his team was in, he would have certainly imagined a much better & different legacy for him to end up with. Ernest Hemingway puts it across poignanty in his classic The Old Man and the Sea ;

“ A man can be destroyed but not defeated ”

Chanderpaul embodies this.