AFTER becoming the 40th player in the history of Test cricket to score a pair on debut, Guyanese batsman Rajendra Chandrika admitted that poor shot selections were his downfall.The 25-year-old opener has had a debut to forget in the second Test against Australia at Jamaica’s Sabina Park earlier this month – recording ducks in both innings.
Mitchell Starc was his nemesis in both innings. The right-hander got identical dismissals in both innings, driving at deliveries angled across him and getting caught at the wicket and at gully respectively.
”Once I reached the middle all I had wanted is to get off the mark in both innings but the shot selections were not good,” he added.
Chandrika, who was drafted into the side after Marlon Samuels was ruled out with illness, said that despite the poor performance, it was a good learning experience.
The West Indies opener joins an exclusive list with pair of ducks on debut, but history shows it’s not all bad news.
Chandrika can also take comfort from the debut pairs by great opening batsmen Saeed Anwar and Marvan Atapattu, whose pairs came in separate matches but at the same time.
Anwar scored more than 4 000 Test runs before he finished his Test career, while Atapattu score more than 5 500 Test runs in 90 Tests.
“I just want to put that Test behind me and concentrate on the future. I still have a lot of cricket in me so one bad Test is not the end,” he pointed out during an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport.
Chandrika got into the Test side after hitting 75 against the Australians, playing for the WICB XI in the warm-up clash at the Sir Viv Richards ground in Antigua.
Chandrika’s pair was just the second West Indian to have that fate befall him.
The previous West Indian pair was recorded by spinner and No.11 batsman Alf Valentine at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1950, who faced three and six balls for his pair.
Meanwhile, following his failure, Chandrika has received some words of comfort from coach Phillip Simmons, who said that failure can inspire success.

By Rajiv Bisnauth