Image courtesy © Hamish Blair/Getty Images
Shivnarine Chanderpaul of West Indies needs no introduction. Such was his talent and capability. But unfortunately whenever Chanderpaul represented West Indies, his team had more defeats than victories. And when the Windies won, especially on account of his contribution, they did so emphatically. The first thing that drew me in towards Chanderpaul was of course, his Indian origin. And the second thing was my passion about landscape among other things, as Shiv was from Guyana, which is in South America when a lion’s share of the places in West Indies are from North America. Later, I observed that Clive Lloyd, one of the most successful test captains of all time, spinner Lance Gibbs and flamboyant allrounder Carl Hooper too were from Guyana.
I had watched this particular test match and the series. But I could not remember the runs contributed by Shiv when West Indies defeated Aussies by 3 wickets. I very well remembered the first ball six by Brian Lara off Brett Lee during the first innings of West Indies batting and the infamous fight between Ramnaresh Sarwan and Glenn McGrath. Rightly Chanderpaul was adjudged as the man of the match for his century. I would rate this knock of him as his greatest though he had handed West Indies last ball victories against New Zealand and Sri Lanka respectively in ODIs.
Despite his immense talent, the role and responsibility Chanderpaul had taken for the West Indies went unnoticed due to Lara’s presence. This was very similar to Rahul Dravid’s role when Sachin Tendulkar was in his prime form for India, and Mahela Jayawardene’s when Kumar Sangakkara overshadowed him, for Sri Lanka. Due to my passion for cricket, with relatively great difficulty I found out why Chanderpaul used to have stickers under his eyes, that was very similar to a tattoo. The stickers he used were the patches to see the cricket ball clearly while protecting the vision from the glare of sun.
What I still do not understand is his change in the batting stance, which was unorthodox from the earlier side-on, though he once said in an interview that it was to avoid falling over. I could not technically understand how he brought the bat down on time, to connect with the ball while hitting with his unorthodox stance. The same was the case of Lara when he connected the ball after having a very high backlift and advance movement, along with the occasional jump. Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf also had a high backlift before connecting the ball. Adam Gilchrist too could connect the ball as he wanted, after having a very high batting grip. I do not understand how these legends could deliver successfully in a rather phenomenal way.
Like some players who could not retire after allowing them to play a few more matches as they wanted and deserved, Chanderpaul too had to call it a day, aged 41. But according to me he still had 2 more years left. Surprisingly he did not feature in the ODIs, too during the later part of his career. The West Indies always had a great start whenever Chanderpaul and Chris Gayle opened in the ODIs. According to me, after the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry and Ashes Test series between Australia and England, the Frank Worrell Trophy between Australia and West Indies is the most thrilling series. The highest successful fourth innings chase made by West Indies against Australia is still unbroken even after close to 22 years of intense competitive test cricket all-around and that makes this knock of Shiv much more special and memorable. Another missing moment for me from the Frank Worrell Trophy is the excellent commentary by late Tony Cozier and David Hookes.
- Series – Australia tour of West Indies, The Frank Worrell Trophy, 4 Match Test Series, 4th test
- Year – 2003
- Venue – Antigua Recreation Ground, St John’s, Antigua
- Date – 9-13 May, 2003
- Result – West Indies won
- Margin – 3 wickets
- Player of the match – Shivnarine Chanderpaul
- Series won by – Australia
- Margin – 3-1
- Player of the series – Ricky Ponting
Written on 9th February, 2025