Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Did You Know?

• Chanderpaul holds the record for the most times achieving fifty runs or more in both innings of a Test and remaining not out (4 times).
• He was chosen as the most handsome man in Guyana by Guyana Malayali Samajham.
• In 2018 Chanderpaul was granted an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of the West Indies at St Augustine.

Early life and domestic career

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was born on 16 August 1974 in Unity Village, Guyana, to Kamraj and Uma Chanderpaul, a Hindu Indo-Guyanese couple. His father, Kamaraj, helped develop his cricket skills from a young age. Chanderpaul’s ancestors had come from India to British Guiana as indentured labourers. By age eight, he was already playing for his village team, often batting for long stretches while family members bowled at him. His father first tried to get him into the Everest club in Georgetown, but no spot was available, so he joined the Demerara Cricket Club instead. At just ten years old, he played for the club’s under-16 side. Later, he got a chance at the Georgetown Cricket Club.

Chanderpaul made his first-class debut for Guyana at 17, against the Leeward Islands in the 1991–92 Red Stripe Cup. He was run out for a duck in his first innings but scored 90 in the second. A few days later, he made his List A debut against Barbados, but the match had no result and he did not get to bat. In April 1993, playing for the West Indies Board President’s XI against the touring Pakistanis, he scored his maiden first-class century. After taking four wickets in Pakistan’s innings, he was one of three West Indians to hit a hundred, finishing unbeaten on 140.

During the 1995–96 Red Stripe Cup, he posted the highest first-class score of his career, an unbeaten 303 off 478 balls in the first innings of a drawn match against Jamaica. In 2007, he joined Durham as an overseas player and helped the club win its first major trophy, top-scoring in the Friends Provident Trophy final.

In March 2008, Chanderpaul sparked controversy during a Carib Beer Series match. After batting for Guyana on the first day and reaching 78 not out, he left to attend the WIPA awards without telling his manager or coach. He did not play the following day, was recorded as retiring out, and returned on the third day. At the awards ceremony, he won three honours: international, Test, and ODI cricketer of the year.

International career

In the summer of 1993, Shivnarine Chanderpaul was part of the West Indies Under-19 squad that toured England. He topped the batting charts for his team in the Test series, amassing 372 runs at an average of 124.00, with a high score of 203 not out in the first Test at Trent Bridge. The following season, during the 1993–94 Red Stripe Cup, his performances placed him near the top of the batting averages. The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack later described his selection for the Test series against England as "contentious," as he was chosen as an all-rounder capable of bowling leg breaks.

In England's first innings, he sent down 16 wicketless overs, but he contributed 62 runs in the West Indies' reply. Across his debut four-Test series, he finished third among West Indian batsmen in both runs (288) and average (57.60). Over the next two years, his place in the Test side was inconsistent, and he was left out entirely for Australia's tour.

In his first 18 Tests, Chanderpaul scored 1,232 runs at an average of 49.28, but despite thirteen half-centuries, his highest score was only 82. He finally reached his maiden Test century in his 19th match, making 137 against India. Just over a month later, he hit his first ODI century, also against India, scoring 109. He added a Test century against England in 1998 and an ODI century against South Africa in 1999. In that South Africa match, he and Carl Hooper were the only West Indian batsmen to reach double figures; Chanderpaul made 150 and Hooper 108. Their 226-run partnership set a new West Indian ODI record, and Chanderpaul's 150 remains his highest ODI score.

During these early years, Chanderpaul carried a negative reputation. He was criticized for not turning half-centuries into hundreds and for missing matches, which some saw as hypochondria. He also made headlines for late-night partying, and in 1999, he shot a policeman, believing him to be a thief. His fortunes improved in 2000 after surgery to remove a floating bone from his foot.

Personality and style

Shivnarine Chanderpaul is famous for a batting stance that looks nothing like the norm. Instead of standing side-on to the bowler, he faces him directly. He adopted this unusual position as a child to see the ball with both eyes while facing fast, hostile bowling. When he first played Test cricket, his stance was actually fairly traditional, with his feet angled only slightly forward.

Within a year, he had straightened that angle completely, pointing his feet square-on in a classical pose. Then, between 2000 and 2005, he gradually rotated his feet forward until they pointed almost straight down the pitch, a position he has kept ever since. Even though he faces the bowler, his bat is angled toward square-leg. This led journalist Scyld Berry to joke that the stance would be perfectly orthodox if the bowler delivered the ball from the square-leg umpire instead of the bowler’s end.

People often call Chanderpaul’s stance “crab-like” and describe his batting as ugly. Some believe this has made him underrated as a batsman. When the ball is actually bowled, he shifts into a more conventional position to play his shot.

As his stance evolved over his international career, so did his aggression. He was originally picked for the West Indies because of his attacking style. He credits Rohan Kanhai as an early influence and even took his nickname, “Tiger,” from Kanhai. He kept that aggressive approach early on, but as the West Indies batting lineup around him weakened, he became much more defensive. He transformed into what cricket writer Vaneisa Baksh called “the anchor of the team, the solid man.” Australian spinner Shane Warne once said that Chanderpaul was “a bloke you needed to crowbar away from the crease,” and he is often described as “limpet-like” for his stubborn, hard-to-dislodge presence.

After retirement

In early 2017, Chanderpaul joined Lancashire under a Kolpak arrangement. After a strong 2017 season where he hit three centuries, he signed a one-year extension for 2018. He also plans to keep playing first-class cricket for his home country, Guyana. Years later, in a 2022 Vice Media documentary, dancehall star Sean Paul revealed that a famous lyric in one of his songs, often misheard as "Sean De Paul," was actually a shout-out to Chanderpaul, his cricket hero.