Shiv : In the Nets preparation

Wearing an elbow, hip and rib guard, Chanderpual got up from his seat, stretched as far as he could and then walked in to bat.

He did not knock the bail to mark his guard, a ritual he follows during matches  


He quickly assumed his peculiar stance to face the first ball.

For the next 25 minutes, Chanderpaul either left the balls, tapped them or flicked them towards the leg side or played the ball

at the very last minute with minimum fuss.

Not once did he hit a stroke in the air - the only West Indies batsman in Tuesday's practice session to do so.


                       

If there is one statistic Chanderpaul will be proud of, it is this:

from 2007, he has averaged 70.52 in 48 Tests.

Among the 78 batsmen who have scored at least 1000 runs during this period,

no one, :

including Tendulkar, has averaged more. 

Among contemporary batsmen, he has the lowest strike-rate in Test cricket.

No one bowler can confidently say that he ever had a hold over Chanderpaul.

"It takes a lot of work. You have to put in a lot of work,"

Chanderpaul said, after training in Mumbai , Today !

"As an individual you have to pick yourself up to go to the nets, do a lot of work,

practice the way you go bat in the game. There are so many things you have to do -

training, keeping the fitness and everything that takes to get on the park and get your work done.

And also maintain a standard you think will help you to succeed at the highest level."

On Thursday ,  people in Guyana  :

will stay awake to proudly watch their own son walk in to his 150th Test. :-*  

It is a milestone no one in the Caribbean has reached, and probably never would. ...............

" Especially not winning "  :-[

Chanderpaul said, when asked about the most challenging moment of his career.

"We started turning some corners. We started to move back up the rankings.

We need to keep fighting."

Personally for Chanderpaul, he would ideally like to overtake Lara as the highest run-maker

in West Indies. Currently he trails his former team-mate by 1015 Test runs :

and if possible also log the highest number of centuries in the remainder of his career.

The batsman remains optimistic 

"I never thought I would get this far in the beginning but who knows where we can go

if we keep persisting," he said with a chuckle :

when asked if he might aspire to play 200 Tests.