Out-of-favour West Indies Test batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul said he hasn’t retired from the game, and an interview which went viral online on Tuesday, which shows him thanking fans for their support, was actually done on December 28, 2013.
The interview, according to Chanderpaul, was done at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados upon the West Indies team arrival from the New Zealand series in which he racked up his 29th Test hundred.
“I need to make it clear that I haven’t retired, and that interview which is circulating online was done way back in 2013. I find this very mischievous, and while I don’t know who posted it, I want to say that who did it has done something wrong,†Chanderpaul clarified.
The veteran batsman said the video was clearly edited, as the part that has been posted was the initial question in the interview when he thanked his loyal fans for sticking by him through the years.
In the 38 seconds video, Chanderpaul is quoted as saying, “Yea, I am pretty much happy the way the fans supported me throughout my career. There were always there to cheer me on. Everywhere I go in the world they were there to cheer me on and support me and they know the type of player I am, and they know I go out there and give my best, and I would fight as hard as I can for the team. That’s all I have been doing- fighting for the team and trying my best. If I can bat as long as I can only the team can benefit from it. I appreciate everything they have done for me over the years, and I just want to say a special thank you to them.â€
With all that has transpired over the last few weeks, the utterances in the video give the impression that Chanderpaul has accepted that his career was over, and was using social media to express gratitude to those who would have supported him.
The region’s second highest Test runscorer said that is far from the truth, and he is appalled by the actions of person (s) who would stoop to such level.
The past weeks have been turbulent for the middle-order stalwart, whose Test career was brought to a halt following his omission for the two-Test series against Australia, starting today in Dominica.
Chanderpaul, a veteran of a West Indian record 164 Test matches, was dropped by the Clive Lloyd-led Selection Panel, which noted the batsman’s dip in form over the past two series as the reason for his omission.
The left-hander had a rare lean patch, stitching together just 183 runs in his last 11 innings at an average of 16, but many share the view that the former captain deserved a better send-off or should have been afforded the luxury of retiring on his own terms.
During an illustrious career spanning 21 years, Chanderpaul has emerged as the West Indies second highest Test runscorer with 11, 867 runs at an average of 51.37 with 30 hundreds and 66 fifties.
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