Consistency is key for Tagenarine Chanderpaul

By Avenash Ramzan

“It feels great to be among the runs, but in order to move up, I know I have to be consistent.”
He’s just 16, but Tagenarine Chanderpaul seems to have fully grasped what is required for him to remain a constant in the minds of the selectors.
The left-handed opener, son of West Indies middle-order stalwart Shivnarine Chanderpaul, made a huge impact in the recently-concluded Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Inter-County 50-over competition, ending with the most runs and highest average.
Playing for the President’s XI, Tagenarine led his team to an upset win over defending champions GT&T Berbice, scoring an unbeaten 59, before falling for eight against his home county, Demerara. He however, ended the tournament in fantastic fashion, hitting the competition’s only century, 103 not out against Essequibo on Tuesday.
His tournament high 170 runs at an incredible average of 170 predictably earned him the best batsman award.
The soft-spoken Tagenarine has over the last few years established himself as one of the young, emerging local batsmen, who, if groomed properly, could make the trip to the international level, like his father did 19 years ago when he made his Test debut for the West Indies against England at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground, Bourda.
He has already started on that journey, making a strong statement in a tournament which is being used primarily to select the Guyana team for the regional 50-over event later this year.
During an exclusive interview with this publication on Wednesday in the midst of a President’s XI net session at the Gandhi Youth Organisation ground, the teenager admitted that it would be an honour to play alongside his father in the Guyana team, but he is fully aware that only consistent productivity with the bat could earn him that milestone.
“That would be great, but right now I’m just focused on making runs for the team. I want to do well every time I go out to bat,” he said.
Last September, Tagenarine and his father, playing for hosts Gandhi Youth Organisation against Transport Sports Club, made 112 and 143 respectively, sharing an unbroken third wicket partnership of 256.
Like his father, Tagenarine is a dogged batsman. However, he didn’t allow that style of play to affect him during the limited overs version of the Inter-County. As a matter of fact, the young batsman concentrated on doing the basics right: play every ball on its merit, pick the gaps, rotate the strike and score the occasional boundaries.
It definitely brought him success, and he is now looking to do much of the same in the Four-Day competition, which is set to bowl off today (Thursday) two games in Georgetown.
“Well I was happy to get some runs in the 50-over competition, and with the Four-Day set to start I’m looking to do even better,” he pointed out.
With his father part of Guyana’s Amazon Conquerors team in the ongoing Caribbean T20 in Trinidad and Tobago, Tagenarine is sure to have his grandfather, Khemraj Chanderpaul, bellowing words of advice from the pavillion, like he did when ‘Shiv’ was a teenager.