‘Little Tiger’ aiming to create own pathway

EMBARKING upon his third Test match for the West Indies team, opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul, son of former West Indies captain and batting legend Shivnarine ‘Tiger’ Chanderpaul, said that the constant comparison to his father is something that he’ll have to get accustomed to.

“It’s something that people always talk about, but I just try and be myself, I can’t be him. I can only do what I can do and be me. At the time when he (Shiv) was in Guyana we would train together so basically some of his teaching and batting style kind of rubbed off on me,” said Tagenarine in an interview with the Windies Cricket Youtube channel.

The dogged left-hander who made his Test debut last year against Australia described the moment as ‘special’ after receiving his Test cap from another West Indies legend and captain Brian Lara. Tagenarine believes it’s paramount that he takes his time to assess different conditions and spend time at the crease.

“It was a special feeling (getting his Test cap) and receiving the cap from the legend himself was even better. I’ll try and take it one game at a time and every time that I go out to bat try and get a start and try to bat for as long as possible,” he added.

Along with having his father as a motivational factor behind him, the 26-year-old Tagenarine listed a few cricketers whom he has modelled his game off. Tagenarine also credits the recent appointment of Brian Lara as mentor to the West Indies team and is in the process of soaking up as much as he can from the former West Indies captain.

“Well I watch Alastair Cook, (Kumar) Sangakkara, Lara and all these guys. I guess you watch all the shots that these guys play, but obviously I don’t have all those shots, so I try to keep it simple and do what I can do. He (Lara) is a very cool guy and easy to approach. He’ll also offer a few tips which you can add to your game and improve on, apart from the shots and that kind of stuff, he’ll help with how you think about the game,” young Chanderpaul said.

While still being a youngster in the West Indies senior team set up, Tagenarine hails the camaraderie within the group and was more than thrilled to have a former Guyanese player in Gudakesh Motie around the team when he got there.

“Everybody seems to get along well with the new players. They treat you well and you can have a conversation with anyone. I’ve known Gudakesh (Motie) since under-15, I’m comfortable with him and I’m glad to have a partner to go around with,” said the soft-soften Tagenarine.

The first Test against Zimbabwe begins at 3 a.m. (Jamaica time) today.

orane.buchanan@gleanerjm.com