CHANDERPAUL IS A MODERN GREAT

He is far from bring the most elegant batsman around. His technique has been described as crabby and unorthodox and he does not possess the fluid grace of a Lawrence Rowe or Brian Lara. He also lacks the raw power of a Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards or Chris Gayle, but if things go well on back-to-back tours of India and South Africa in the coming months, Shivnarine Chanderpaul should return to the West Indies next January as the most prolific batsman in West Indies Test history.

By then, barring injury Chanderpaul would have played in his 164th Test and should have eclipsed Lara’s 11,953 Test runs. The diminutive left-hander only needs to average 30-plus runs a match to get past the legendary Trinidadian and cement his place among the modern greats of world cricket.

There are those who begrudgingly acknowledge that Chanderpaul qualifies as a great but as Raul Dravid recently explained in the Modern Masters series, the sheer weight of the Chanderpaul’s numbers makes him great. Well over 11, 500 runs at a climbing average of 53, with 30 Test centuries speaks volumes of Chanderpaul’s greatness. Even against the background that he has played on a losing team for most of his career does not take away from what he has contributed with the bat. It can be argued that had it not been for Chanderpaul many of those losses suffered by the West Indies would have been a lot more embarrassing and occurred a lot more quickly. There is a lot of value to what he has brought and continues to bring to the West Indies team.

Another indicator of Chanderpaul’s greatness is that he has been consistently good for the 20 years he has been playing for the West Indies. One hardly remembers a time when he has not scored runs. He scored runs when the West Indies chased down a world record 418 to beat Australia in 2003, he scored runs when Brian Lara set his world record 375 in Antigua, and he scores runs against everyone. It should be noted that against India, the West Indies’ next opponents,  Chanderpaul averages 63, and 50 against South Africa the team the West Indies faces after the Indian tour. That augurs well for the player and even better for the West Indies.

The critics will say that Chanderpaul should bat higher, that he is selfish, that he should shelter tailenders more and that he only plays for averages. My answer to that is the batsmen above him should do their jobs. And if everyone in the team played as selfishly by putting as high a price on their wicket as Chanderpaul does, maybe, just maybe the West Indies wouldn’t have most of the more than 50 matches it has lost in the last decade. Batting is about achieving individual targets within the context of the team’s goals. When a team scores 250 and one man scores an unbeaten 80, how can you blame that man?

At the end of the recent series against Bangladesh that the West Indies won quite convincingly Chanderpaul was asked how much longer does he plan to continue. His response was as long as he can. How long that will be will depend on how much longer he can continue to rack up big scores. The West Indies should pray that that means at least three more years until the best practices being brought by the introduction of the new franchise system begin to reap results by producing cricketers of the highest quality that will eventually transition into the West Indies set up and hopefully make them competitive on the world stage once more.

Until that goal is achieved the West Indies will need a strong pillar in the line-up that will help guide the younger batsmen in the team while providing a safety net should things go wrong. As of right now, there is no one better for that role than the “Tiger” from Guyana.