GIVE Shivnarine Chanderpaul the respect he deserves.
That’s the call from noted sport psychologist Dr Rudi Webster, who has hailed Shivnarine Chanderpaul as the one of the West Indies’ great cricketers and most reliable batsmen.
Webster saluted Chanderpaul, who has accumulated 10 897 runs at an average of 51.89 in 149 Tests, for his “strong self-belief and self-confidence” as well as positive thinking under pressure.
“He is one of the great West Indies cricketers, but doesn’t get the credit that he deserves because of his style of play,” Webster said in a short tribute to Chanderpaul.
Chanderpaul will reach a significant landmark tomorrow night when he plays his 150th Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
“He is one of our most reliable batsmen and is probably the hardest to
get out. I think that if the team built their batting around him and learned from his approach, tactics and batting strategies they would do much better,” the sport psychologist posited.
“Instead, he has been severely and unjustifiably criticized by the coach for his method of play in the past. Mentally, he is probably the strongest player in the team.
“He has enormous powers of concentration, has strong self-belief and self-confidence as well as enormous patience and the capacity to think simply, clearly and positively under great pressure. These are some of the attributes of champions.”
Webster also advised West Indies coach Ottis Gibson to not only ask the West Indian players to bat longer and make more runs, but he should identify the root cause of their mistakes.
“The skills of talking and planning are different from the skills of execution. There is an African saying, ‘when a man falls don’t look at where he falls but where he slips’.
“So in looking at the players’ mistakes, they should pay attention to what happens just before the mistakes occur. The cause is usually found in the mind nine times out of ten,” reasoned Webster.
