Chanderpaul, a bizarre batter from Guyana
A few years ago, I was having a chat with V.V.S. Laxman’s coach John Manoj at the sidelines of a match and he made a fascinating point. “Laxman was so talented and had such great hand-eye coordination that we asked him to continue what he was doing. He could easily show the ball the direction from way outside off-stump to somewhere down mid-wicket. It was an art, which can’t be thought in a coaching class,” he had mentioned.
When a purist would watch the West Indies batting mainstay take guard, he would be baffled. Chanderpaul’s stance is surely one of the most bizarre ones in world cricket. In technical terms, Chanders as he fondly called has a two-eyed stance. What does it mean? In lame man’s terms, Chanders is seeking a two-eyed view of the bowler. As he walked into bat at No.5 on Sunday against India, the dressing room of the Windies would have heaved a sigh of relief as their best bet was in the middle. His unique batting style coupled with endless energy to withstand pressure and come out trumps is what has made him a legend in his own right. At stumps on Day One, Chanders had yet again taken his side to safety while scoring an unbeaten 111.
His anti-glare strips in black might cause a giggle in the rival’s camp as he strides to the centre, but once his bat starts to talk, the others can well shut up. Chanders is the last of the lot to have played alongside the likes of legends such as Brian Charles Lara, Richie Richardson, Courtney Walsh and Curtley Ambrose, but is happy to rally around the young guns who have been fed by a dose of shorter formats of the game and fail to apply themselves for longer periods.
In his very first Test outing in Georgetown, Guyana against the Englishmen in 1994, Chanders hit a patient 62 off 135, showing glimpses of patient mixed with grit, a hallmark of all great players who have excelled in Test cricket.
With just over 500 runs required to join the elite band of players to have hit 10,000 runs in Tests, rest assured, Chanders will be the last one to have a look at that statistic. He may not look pleasing to the eye on the field, but possesses a technique that has worked for him. He gets into a position of comfort, and one more occasions than one outsmarts the bowler and loots runs. For a player who has been the saviour of the West Indies cricket for about 17 years now, Chanders keeps things ridiculously simple. Just bat boy! Just keep batting.
He showed no trouble with the quicks in operation, nor did he do anything untoward when the spinners come along. With Chanders in such ominous tough right from the first day of the series, Indians can expect to be chasing leather in the coming days.
