The legend of Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

The first thing which comes to everyone’s mind on hearing this name is that weird stance. Not many remember the twenty thousand runs scored using that weird stance. In the earlier parts of his career, he was overshadowed by the Trinidadian legend and in the latter parts, by the Jamaican hulk. Rahul Dravid did become noticed, for being unnoticed. But Chanders? Never. It is staggering to think that his runs in Test matches nearly equal that of Sachin, Kallis, Greenidge, Haynes and Sunny. But he is never spoken in the same breath as these greats of the game.

My first memories of him were his partnerships with Carl Hooper, in the early 2000′s. They mauled the Indian attack into submission. I woke up every morning, saw him play those cracking cover drives and thought I was still dreaming. The two West-Indian flags painted below the eyes made me a fan. He invented a style which every coach would have thrown out, perfected it and became a master in his own right. The funny thing was no coach would have been able to identify a technical flaw, if any, in this technique. His resistances, weird style of play and cracking drives are all a legacy of their own.

There are two ways to beat your opponent: One is to make them tap out, the other is to not let them win till they lose the will to win. Chanderpaul is the latter. He resisted, resisted and resisted even more, till the fat lady finally sung. For every Indian, Sachin is the God of cricket. When he failed, India failed to win. But even if Chanderpaul succeeded, West Indies failed. But this pressure never affected his game. He excelled in all conditions, unlike many modern day players. Particularly, he was more comfortable with Indian pitches, which every foreigner have found tough to negotiate with.

Why did he choose to play T20 cricket? A sprinter is not expected to compete in a marathon and vice versa. He was a marathon runner, a long distance one. People may pay to see a sprinter, but marathons define the person you are and Chanders never gave up.

One interesting incident, which made me love him more, happened in the match between West Indies and England. Kevin Pietersen was hit in the head by a bouncer from Kemar Roach. His helmet came-off and landed on the stumps. All the West Indian players gathered around to celebrate. Chanders went to check on Pietersen and then joined his team-mates in celebration. This small gesture is the larger definition of cricket and how it should be played. His calmness, approach to game and gentlemanliness are all lessons for the modern day cricketer.

Chanders was the last of the son of Test cricket and we may never see the likes of him again. Love you, Chanders.