Tagenarine Chanderpaul braces himself for Indian test with familiar weapons of patience and old-school grit.
With patience and old-school grit, Tagenarine Chanderpaul readies for India Test grind.
Tagenarine Chanderpaul is clearly descended from his father, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, as evidenced by his square-on posture, squat at the crease, trigger action, and tendency to frequently mark his guard with the bail. Tagenarine may absorb balls and slow down bowling attacks, just like Shiv.
Tagenarine has faced 1433 balls since making his debut in December 2022, amassing 560 runs at an average of 35 in 19 innings. Kraigg Brathwaite is the only batsman from the West Indies to have faced more balls (2376) during this time, although playing in twice as many innings (39).
Daren Sammy anticipates that Chanderpaul will replace Brathwaite. Sammy even compared the talent of Rahul Dravid and his father to Chanderpaul’s after West Indies’ first training session in Ahmedabad.
Shiv was the coach of the Orlando Galaxy in Minor League Cricket, and Tagenarine was the team’s captain during Chanderpaul’s time with his father in T20 cricket in the USA. When asked how Shiv has affected his batting, he is reticent, but he says he thinks their training sessions will help him adjust to the Indian environment.
Now that he has recovered from his jet lag, Chanderpaul is prepared for the red-ball grind and is looking forward to meeting coach Sammy’s expectations during his first India tour.
“I’m not much of a flashy player,” Chanderpaul says. “So I just try to take my time and accumulate my runs with the odd boundary here and there. I think [batting time] goes with my [natural] game. But I also spend time batting balls at the nets and hope to replicate it [in a match].”
Picking left-arm wristspinner Kuldeep out of his hand can be extremely challenging, and Washington, who has taken Ashwin’s place as India’s top offspinner, can threaten both edges with turn and drift. Although West Indies’ chances of competing in future World Test Championships (WTC) appear slim, there is a glimmer of optimism that Chanderpaul’s tenacity will enable India’s attack to go deep and support West Indies’ batting, just like his father did in the past.