Shivnarine Chanderpaul

The stylish left-hander with a very unorthodox batting stance, Shivnarine Chanderpaul is a former West Indies player and a living legend alongside Brian Lara for the Men in Maroon. Nicknamed ‘Tiger’, he has been able to ascend to some of the loftiest heights in the cricket world through a combination of talent, dedication, and desire.

In 1994, after stellar performances for the Guyana senior team, Chanderpaul got the last-minute callup to the West Indies test team during England’s tour in March 1994. On his debut, he made 62,  slotting in the middle-order wonderfully against the seasoned English bowling lineup. Chanderpaul made five half-centuries in the six opportunities he had to bat over the course of that debut series, but his 75 not out in the final test in Antigua will always be associated with the cricketing history, as it came while batting with the incomparable Brian Lara while the latter broke the world record of 375 for highest individual test score.

While the fortunes of the West Indies team were on a regular downward curve, Chanderpaul’s career grew. He smashed 150 while opening the batting in an ODI versus South Africa in 1999, and featured in a number of pivotal partnerships with the likes of Lara and Carl Hooper.

While injuries affected him from time to time, he built himself up both physically and mentally to become the glue of the West Indies batting. After the resignation of Lara from the West Indies national team, Chanderpaul was appointed as the skipper. His debut as skipper, leading an inexperienced side missing some of its foremost members, he took the opportunity and made his highest test score of 203 not out against a strong South African team to secure a draw in 2005. Chanderpaul did not prove to be a very formidable West Indies captain, and he resigned the post a year after assuming it to focus on his batting.

The 2011 ICC World Cup proved to be the end of Chanderpaul’s ODI career, as the West Indies team management decided to stop selecting him in order to breed a new batting core in limited-overs cricket. Due to poor performances, Chanderpaul was dropped from the West Indies Test squad in 2015, and after that, he announced his retirement from international cricket in 2016, without a farewell, at the age of 41.

(As of April 2021)