The West Indies were facing Australia, the visitors, on Day 3 of the first Test in Kingston on May 24, 2008. Brett Lee took the sprint to complete the 95th over. He bowled a bouncer, and the ball hit the back of the helmet of the batsman as he tried to duck. The batter, who was then at 86 off 230 deliveries, then dropped to the ground, apparently unconscious for a few seconds.

Surrounded by Australian players, the batter started moving. Speculations began that the batsman would retire hurt, but he did not, and his actions surprised the crowd. To make it more of an amazement, the batsman, who had taken a very long time to reach the 80s, completed his century in the next 29 deliveries. The batsman was Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

Chanderpaul debuted for the West Indies in Test cricket in March 1994 and in the ODIs in October 1994. Since then, he represented the Caribbean side in 164 Tests, scoring 11,867 runs with an average of 51.37. When he retired in 2016, Chanderpaul had 30 Test tons. He is still the most capped Test player—164 matches—for the West Indies.

Also known as ‘the Wall’ of West Indies cricket for making the bowlers helpless in making him return to the pavilion, he played 268 ODIs, scoring 8,778 runs at an average of 41.60.

Despite retiring from international cricket, Chanderpaul kept batting for around two more years in First Class and List A, in which he had 25,745 runs and 13,439 runs, respectively.

Inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2022, Chanderpaul did not play as much in the shortest format. He played in 81 T20s—in tournaments like CPL, Vitality Blast, BPL, CLT20 and IPL—and scored 1,576 runs. In 22 T20Is for the country, Chanderpaul had 343 runs. But the stats in T20 cricket can never hide his abilities as one of the finest ever to grace the gentleman’s game.

A leg-break bowler, Chanderpaul did not handle the ball most of the time. He has nine wickets in 43 Test innings, 14 in 28 ODI innings, 60 in First Class and 56 in List A.

Now, the same individual is coming to Nepal. Termed as ‘Tiger’ by the West Indies Cricket, Chanderpaul, who celebrated his 51st birthday on August 16, will be in the role of the head coach of Janakpur Bolts, the winners of the inaugural edition of the Nepal Premier League.

“From the history books to the Bolts dugout, a true cricketing icon joins our family,” Janakpur Bolts revealed Chanderpaul’s appointment in a video on their social media on Monday morning. The move has received quality appreciation.

Chanderpaul’s coaching career

Chanderpaul was appointed as a batting consultant for the U19 team of the West Indies in 2021. At the time, the squad was preparing for the 2022 World Cup on home soil.

He then joined Jamaica Tallawahs as the head coach for the 2022 Caribbean Premier League, which was the 10th edition of the tournament. Under Chanderpaul’s coaching, Jamaica won the CPL title for the third time that year.

In July 2022, Chanderpaul flew to the United States of America to work as the head coach of the US women’s—senior and U19—teams.

Photo: Courtesy of Janakpur Bolts