KINGSTOWN – Opener Kraigg Brathwaite has credited his hero Shiv Chanderpaul for helping him to his maiden Test double century against Bangladesh on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Brathwaite spent 38 nervous balls in the 190s before finally breaking the shackles by sweeping off-spinner Mahmudullah to the ropes to reach his landmark.
He was unbeaten on 205 at the close of the second day of the first Test, with West Indies on 407 for three at Arnos Vale, and eventually made 212, as the dominant men in maroon declared their first innings at 484 for 7 yesterday.
“The first thing is that I was anxious to get the double. The pitch was holding up and it wasn’t that easy to score initially. Shiv was telling me to relax and not to force it, and not to try anything new,” Brathwaite said following the day’s play.
“[He said] ‘the pitch is not easy, you’ve worked hard all this time to get to 199 so it doesn’t make sense.’ He said just to keep fighting and don’t get frustrated.”
He added: “It was a big relief. The field was up and I backed myself to go over. I was quite relieved and very, very happy.”
Brathwaite batted for nine hours and 14 minutes.
With the knock, he became the third youngest West Indies batsmen to make a double hundred, behind only the legendary Sir Garry Sobers and George Headley.
“I’m feeling very happy. I’ve been working towards this from months before so I’m quite happy to achieve it,” he said.
“It means a lot [to be in that company]. Obviously those guys are legends of West Indies cricket. I’m happy that my name can be around theirs.”
Despite a slow second day when only 56 overs were possible because of rain, Brathwaite believes the Windies are good bets to pull off a win.
“I think we’re in a good position. There is still a lot of time left in the game so once we can get a good lead and we back ourselves when we bowl at them . . . I can see us winning the game.” (CMC)
