Shivnarine Chanderpaul deserves a better send off, West Indies Cricket legend Brian Lara tells Sport360. The diminutive batsman's hopes of a happy farewell were squashed after the veteran was left out of the 14-man West Indies squad for the first Test against Australia.
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Chanderpaul is his nation’s second highest run-scorer and just 45 short of Brian Lara's total of 11,912 runs but the recent three-Test series against England was not a happy one for the Guyanese left-hander, who could only manage a miserly average of 15.33.
That display led the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) to deem the 40-year-old batsman surplus to requirements and he was omitted from the squad for the upcoming series with Australia.
Windies legend Lara has been unimpressed with the treatment of Chanderpaul and, speaking at the launch of the Masters Champions League T20 tournament in the UAE, insisted his former team-mate deserves to have a proper send off.
“I’m very disappointed with the omission of Shivnarine,” Lara told Sport360. “I believe that a man with in excess of 160 Test matches who has played for the West Indies for 21 years should be able to dictate slightly when they leave.”
“He is forty years old but I think [WICB selector] Clive Lloyd and company should at least give him the opportunity, or even give the public in the West Indies the opportunity to say goodbye to Shivnarine Chanderpaul.
“He has dedicated all his life to cricket. The person I know, who entered the team in 1994 in Guyana against England, all he thought about was cricket and I know that is all he has done for 21 years.
“It is another example of a West Indian leaving the team a bit disgruntled after such great service for so many years. I know it may be hard to reverse the decision but maybe for the last Test match they will consider him. I would love to be there to say goodbye to someone who has served the West Indian people for so many years.”