By Rico
Shivnarine Chanderpaul is not counted among enterprising cricketers of his generation. He is not one of the most gifted either. He is known for having one of the crabbiest techniques in world cricket, infamous for his unorthodox front-on batting stance .
But, he is amazing stuff. If there is one cricketer who has an unwavering concentration and keeps on improvising all the time, that is Chanderpaul. He would use soft hands, canny deflections, a whiplash pull-shot and what not, if they produce runs.
He has for long been the Mr Dependable of West Indies side. If a Brian Lara or a Chris Gayle are stylish strokemakers, Chanderpaul is a grafter and accumulator. When every other more enterprising compatriots fail, he is supposed to play the sheet anchor's role.
He was simply ''the unbowlable'' in England this summer. He batted 17 hours and 40 minutes without being dismissed, scoring 446 runs from three Tests and averaging 148.66 with two unbeaten centuries.
Michael Vaughan considers Chanderpaul's 116 not out in the third Test, which almost won the game for West Indies, as the finest Test innings he had ever seen.
His explosive form in the Twenty20 and ODI exploits (202 runs from three matches with one hundred) led his coach David Moore calling him one of the most versatile cricketers in the world.
During the third Test against England, he crossed 7,000 run mark, the seventh West Indian and 30th batsmen in the world to have done so.
In his 104-Test career, he has scored 7182 runs. And with age in his side, the unassuming left-handed Guyanese, who turns 33 in August, has every possibilty to become the third West Indian to score more than 8,000 runs when he retires. He can even go past the great Sir Vivian Richards' 8,540 Test runs.
A healthy average of 46.63 in Test, better than Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Gayle and 6975 runs at an average of 38.96 from 221 ODIs.
So folks, please welcome Chanderpaul in the pantheon of all-time greats.
He has for long been the Mr Dependable of West Indies side. If a Brian Lara or a Chris Gayle are stylish strokemakers, Chanderpaul is a grafter and accumulator. When every other more enterprising compatriots fail, he is supposed to play the sheet anchor's role.
He was simply ''the unbowlable'' in England this summer. He batted 17 hours and 40 minutes without being dismissed, scoring 446 runs from three Tests and averaging 148.66 with two unbeaten centuries.
Michael Vaughan considers Chanderpaul's 116 not out in the third Test, which almost won the game for West Indies, as the finest Test innings he had ever seen.
His explosive form in the Twenty20 and ODI exploits (202 runs from three matches with one hundred) led his coach David Moore calling him one of the most versatile cricketers in the world.
During the third Test against England, he crossed 7,000 run mark, the seventh West Indian and 30th batsmen in the world to have done so.
In his 104-Test career, he has scored 7182 runs. And with age in his side, the unassuming left-handed Guyanese, who turns 33 in August, has every possibilty to become the third West Indian to score more than 8,000 runs when he retires. He can even go past the great Sir Vivian Richards' 8,540 Test runs.
A healthy average of 46.63 in Test, better than Desmond Haynes, Gordon Greenidge, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Gayle and 6975 runs at an average of 38.96 from 221 ODIs.
So folks, please welcome Chanderpaul in the pantheon of all-time greats.
Image: search.tvnz.co.nz
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