Caribbean batsman does not mind being overshadowed by Tendulkar's farewell appearance; says will be happy if he overtakes Lara to become highest run getter for West Indies.
Only six players have played 150 or more Tests. West Indies batting mainstay for 19 years, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, will be the seventh player to reach this landmark on Thursday. The 39-year-old is excited like a teenager about this achievement, which coincides with Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th Test.
“It is not every day someone gets to play 150 Tests. I am looking forward to it. Also, Sachin is playing his 200th Test, so it will be an honour to be a part of it,” said the Guyanese here on Tuesday, two days before the Test match.
Chanderpaul does not mind his landmark appearance being overshadowed by Tendulkar’s 200th and farewell appearance.
“It has been a privilege to be here to watch Sachin playing in his 200 Test match. We have watched him over the years, played against him, watching him from the other side. It is always a joy to look at him bat even though he is batting against us. There is so much to learn from a legend like him. He is a master of batting, his art, his skills. Looking at him, you learn so much,” Chanderpaul said.
Talking more about Tendulkar, Chanderpaul recalled the tri-series in 1994-95 in India, also involving New Zealand.
“In 1994 when we came here, he was out of nick in the beginning. He got some runs against New Zealand (115 at Vadodara). After that, we could not figure out where to bowl to him. Some guys were saying that sometimes we needed to bowl to him a little wide. But then the guys said he will hit them for four. If we bowl to him close, he will still hit them for four, so we could not work out where to bowl him. We just hoped he would get out somehow,” Chanderpaul recalled.
Tendulkar’s sequence of scores in that tri-series read like this: 0, 0, 8, 115, 34, 62, 66, 54, 88, 105.
Going by Chanderpaul’s form in recent years, don’t be surprised if he goes on to play 200 Tests and emulate Tendulkar. “I never thought I would get this far in the beginning but who knows where we can go if we keep persisting,” he said.
Also, don’t even be surprised if Chanderpaul and his son Tagenarine play for the West Indies together. The father-son duo played a first class fixture together for Guyana (against Trinidad and Tobago) early this year with the senior pro scoring a century in the second innings.
“I was always looking forward to it (playing with son). We played a few club games back home. I was always looking forward to seeing him playing in first-class level and what he could do. And, he did pretty okay and I am hoping he will get better.”
The junior Chanderpaul, only 17 and also a left-hander like his illustrious father, has played in four first class games for Guyana.
While Chanderpaul is the most capped West Indian, he is 1,056 runs behind Brian Lara for the most runs (11,953) scored by a Caribbean in Tests.
“It will be good to get there but it is going to be a lot of work,” Chanderpaul said. “A 1,000 runs might not look a lot. Sometimes they can be a lot also. If I do (get there), I will be happy.”
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