As Shivnarine Chanderpaul turns 42, here's some unusual and unknown facts from the 21-year long international career of the West Indian southpaw
He is the first Indo-Caribbean to play 100 Tests for the West Indies, and captained them in 14 Tests and 16 One Day Internationals.
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He is West Indies' most capped player.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Through an unparalleled 21 years, 164 Tests and 268 ODIs, a total of 41 hundreds in both and 11,867 Test runs at an average of 51.37, he was the antithesis of the stereotype of West Indies batsmen as attacking, exciting stroke-makers.
His father, Kemraj, uncle Munilal and whoever else was available in his village of Unity on the outskirts of the Guyana capital, Georgetown, used to bowl to him, hour after hour, in a vain attempt to dislodge him.
He made his Test debut on his home ground of Bourda in Georgetown against England in 1994, aged 19 and scored 62.
He took 510 balls and close to 11 hours to compile an unbeaten 136 against India in Antigua in 2006.
In 2008, he kept Australia in the field for just under 26 hours all told over three Tests in the Caribbean without being dismissed.
Tendulkar and Chanderpaul in 2011. Pic/ Suresh K.K.
He got hit on the helmet on the back of his head by a Brett Lee delivery and blacked out -- while he was batting on 86 -- but showed resilience to still complete a hundred in Kingston.
He has hit the joint sixth-fastest Test hundred of all time — in only 69 balls — against Australia at Bourda, Georgetown in 2002-03. It was at the time the third fastest century in terms of balls faced.
Who is West Indies' greatest Test batsman? Happy Birthday to one of the greats, Shivnarine Chanderpaul! pic.twitter.com/InKEZuQW66
— ICC (@ICC) August 16, 2016
He has also scored 150 against South Africa in East London in 1999 off only 136 balls.
His stance was so increasingly front-on that it was generally described as 'crab-like'.
He and his son hammer the bail on the crease to mark their guard.
His son, Tagenarine, who opened the batting for the West Indies in the U-19 World Cup in 2014. Tegenarine, who is also a left-hander, has played alongside Shivnarine in the same Guyana team in the West Indies' first-class tournament.
He has 49 not outs in Tests.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Rohan Kanhai, called 'Tiger of Port Mourant', briefly coached Chanderpaul. Kanhai passed on the title of 'Tiger' to Chanderpaul, and the moniker stuck.
He played international cricket for over two decades — a feat achieved by only 15 cricketers in the history of the game.
He famously faced 1,051 deliveries against India in 2002 without being dismissed, batting for 1,513 minutes. Chanderpaul was only dismissed only in the 2nd and 5th Test -- his run of scores in between being 67 not out, 101 not out, 136 not out and 58 -- a total of 362 runs. It was the most time spent by a batsman at the crease between two dismissals. Kallis is second in this list having batted 1,246 minutes without being dismissed.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul is famous for his crab-like stance. Here he is seen batting during a net session at the Wankhede Stadium. Pic/Atul Kamble
Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chanderpaul made cricket history when their partnership helped West Indies chase down a 418-run target at Antigua in 2003. It was the highest-ever successful chase, with Sarwan and Chanderpaul scoring 105 and 104 respectively. The match was played at St. John's on May 9. This is currently the highest most successful run chase in Test history.
Chanderpaul has been involved in a the highest humber of partnerships in Test cricket -- 750. Rahul Dravid comes in 2nd position with 738; in third place is Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar with 675.
Chanderpaul has batted with a mind-numbing 82 different partners.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul fields during a training session at the Wankhede Stadium in 2013. Pic/Atul Kamble
He also holds the record for having witnessed 500 dismissals from the non-striking end.
Chanderpaul also holds the amazing record of being stumped for the first time after having batted in 266 innings! This record happened in June 2014, 20 years into his Test career.
The black patches under Chanderpaul’s eyes are anti-glare patches with the word 'Mueller' written in them.
Chanderpaul was the seventh-leading run-scorer in Test cricket with 11,867 runs in 164 Tests at 51.37.
He retired just 86 runs away from surpassing Brian Lara as the most successful West Indies batsman.
Chanderpaul at Lord's
Chanderpaul has 30 hundreds and 96 fifties. He ranks fifth on the list of cricketers with most fifties.
Chanderpaul has scored 7 consecutive Test fifties. He is only one of three cricketers to achieve this feat, the others being Everton Weekes and Andy Flower.
Chanderpaul had scored 558 runs at 111.60 in 2007 and 909 at 101 in 2008. Other than Sir Donald Bradman, he is the only other batsman to have scored over 500 runs at a 100-plus average in consecutive years (Britishers Geoff Boycott and Wally Hammond are the only others to have done it twice, but not in consecutive years).
Chanderpaul has scored 2,528 runs at 64.82 batting at No. 6: he easily averages the most for anyone with over 2,000 runs at that position. Second on the list is West Indian legend Sir Garfield Sobers with an average of 53.34.
Chanderpaul has played in most Tests while being on the losing side -- 77, 14 clear of Lara’s tally.
#Howzstat - Shivnarine Chanderpaul has scored the most runs in #WIvIND Test matches played in the West Indies pic.twitter.com/xWGmxFOd06
— ICC (@ICC) July 16, 2016
Chanderpaul also holds the record of having taken the most Test wickets (9) without ever taking two wickets in the same innings.
Chanderpaul made his maiden Test hundred in his 19th Test, having scored 13 fifties in the previous 18. He scored an unbeaten 137 against India at Kensington Oval in Bridgetown.
In 2008 he was named as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack,[6] and as the Player of the Year by the International Cricket Council.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
Chanderpaul made his ODI debut seven months after his first Test appearance.
He scored his maiden ODI century in May 1997 against India scoring 109 runs.
His highest score in Test cricket is 203 not out, a total he achieved twice, first against South Africa in 2005, and then against Bangladesh in 2012.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul
He has scored centuries against every Test playing nation with the exception of Sri Lanka.
He has special affinity for the Indian bowling attack having scored seven centuries against India, more than any other team.
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