Birthday special: Shivnarine Chanderpaul – 3 lesser-known facts about the Caribbean legend

Over the years West Indies have been blessed with some charismatic batters, none more so than the iconic Brian Lara, a virtuous master of elegance. But another batter who had a similar impact on the Windies cricket and slipped under the radar was Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

While not as eye-pleasing and silky smooth as Lara, Chanderpaul had his own unique ‘crab-like’ stance while churning out runs. Only the second Windies batter to score 10,000 Test runs, Chanderpaul relied on finesse and deft touches for his runs, which came at a commendable average of 51.37 in red-ball cricket. Regarded as one of the most distinguished batters of his era, the southpaw turns 48 today, and on the eve of that special occasion, here are a few lesser-known facts about the Caribbean great.

Chanderpaul is the first Indo-Caribbean to play 100 Tests for the West Indies.

West Indies cricket team has featured some great Indian-origin cricketers in their illustrious history, including iconic figures of Rohan Kanhai and Alvin Kallicharan in the 60s and 70s to Ramnaresh Sarwan and Samuel Badree after the turn of the century. But what makes Shivnarine Chanderpaul unique among those players is that he is the first and only Indian-origin player to have achieved the feat of representing the Caribbean side over 100 times in Test cricket, in a career that spanned over two decades.

The face paint under his eyes was anti-glare stickers used to refract light.

Chanderpaul piqued the curiosity of the viewers during his playing career not only because of his unique playing style but also with one of his peculiar accessories, the face painted under his eyes. The black face paints on the southpaw’s eyes were anti-glare stickers, which helped him concentrate while batting. The stickers are commonly used by players in American football to protect their vision from the glare of the sunlight.

He was nicknamed ‘The Tiger’ by former Windies cricketer Rohan Kanhai

Former West Indian batting great and Indo-Caribbean cricketer Rohan Kanhai paid Chanderpaul the highest compliment when he labelled him as ‘The Tiger’. Kanhai, who was dubbed the “Tiger of Port Mourant”, gave the title to the southpaw because of his tenacity and tiger-like perseverance at the crease, even facing the most daunting of adversaries for the team.