Chanderpaul’s greatness recognised by ICC Induction into Cricket’s elite

ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Legendary left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul has become the latest West Indies player to be inducted into the International Cricket Council’s Hall-of-Fame.

The 48-year-old was late Monday night named by the ICC as inductee 107 and was joined by iconic Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir and England’s multi-time World Cup winning captain Charlotte Edwards.

A former West Indies captain, Chanderpaul plundered 11 867 runs from 164 Tests with 30 hundreds at an average of 51.37. In One-Day Internationals, he gathered 8 778 runs from 268 matches with 11 centuries at an average of 41.60.

Chanderpaul is second on the all-time West Indies run-scoring list in Tests and is one of just two players – along with Brian Lara – with over 10 000 runs. The Guyanese lies third on the ODI run-scoring charts behind Chris Gayle and Lara.

“I am extremely honoured and very humbled to receive this very prestigious honour. I do so on behalf of my family who supported me all my life, my teammates who encouraged me and helped me, the many supporters around the world, and the loyal fans of West Indies cricket who I played every magical moment for. From the first moment I stepped onto the field in my West Indies cap, I knew what my responsibility was, and I always knew I had to give my 100 percent. I enjoyed every moment of my time.

“When I was a boy growing up in Guyana with that over-sized bat in my small hands and you told me I would make it into the ICC Hall of Fame, I would have said ‘you’re mad!’. Never ever in my wildest dreams did I think I would make it this far. But I did dream big. And this honour here shows that your dreams, when combined with hard work and dedication, can come true. Your hard work can take you places you never imagined.

“Today I am proud, as I join a list of the game’s elite who represent the best of all time. I receive this ICC Hall of Fame award with humility and hope that what I achieved for West Indies and what I did on the field will inspire a new generation of young cricketers to always dream big and always give their 100 per cent,” Chanderpaul said.

Cricket West Indies today hailed Chanderpaul as “the man for all seasons”, stressing that his “commitment and adaptability” had been two of the qualities behind his outstanding career.

“On behalf of all West Indies cricket stakeholders, I congratulate Shivnarine ‘Shiv’ Chanderpaul for receiving the highest honor of his career to date,” said CWI president Ricky Skerritt.

“Shiv’s story exemplifies all that is good about him and the game of cricket – his hard work, commitment, adaptability and his resulting growth and achievements on and off the field.

“His love for the game is unmatched, and he demonstrated throughout his two decades on the field that he was the man for all seasons.”

He continued: “From the early days in the Under-19 set-up in Guyana, Shiv showcased his immense batting talent. He honed his skills and worked tirelessly to become the number 1 ranked batsman in the world.

“He embodied the statement ‘heights of great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight’. Shiv toiled hard to improve and at every stage was able to re-invent his game to meet the demands.

“We salute Shiv for his immense contribution to West Indies cricket and world cricket.”

ICC chief executive, Geoff Allardice said Chanderpaul, along with Edwards and Qadir, were great “ambassadors” of the game.

“The ICC Hall of Fame continues to celebrate the iconic individuals that have shaped the history of cricket,” he noted.

“Only the very best are honoured in this way and it is wonderful to commemorate the lasting contributions of Shivnarine, Charlotte and Abdul.

“These three ambassadors of our great game enjoyed tremendous success on the international stage and are richly deserving of their status as ICC Hall of Famers,” Allardice said.

Chanderpaul holds some unique records which showed his temperament and the price he put on his wicket. Chanderpaul has been involved in 771 partnerships in Test, the most by any player, during which he batted with 83 different partners, which is also the highest among other cricketers. During his Test career, Chanderpaul watched 507 dismissals of his batting partners from the other end, the most by any batsman. Another highlight of his batting career is that he batted for more than 1000 minutes in a Test match on four different occasions, the highest being 1513 minutes.

A wonderful cricketing brain, Chanderpaul shifted his focus to coaching in 2016 after his retirement and in 2020 launched the Chanderpaul Cricket Academy along with multi-discipline coach and USA Cricket Hall of Famer Jatin Patel. This year, in his first season as the coach of Jamaica Tallawahs, he earned the rare distinction of taking the team all the way to the championship title. The year 2022 has been a good year for Chanderpaul and as the head coach of the USA Women’s Under-19 Team, he led the team to the West Indies Zonal tourney where the USA U-19 girls finished undefeated in the six-team tourney. The icing on the cake this year was when his son Tagenarine Chanderpaul got his maiden call to represent West Indies in the two-match Test series against Australia later in the year. 

(CMC/ Ajit Bezbaruah)