Chanderpaul fulfills his 100-Test goal

Shivnarine Chanderpaul will be the eighth West Indian to reach the 100-Test milestone when he takes the field for the second Test against Pakistan at Multan. He said he was "very satisfied" to have reached the 100-Test milestone because it is a "goal he had set himself" when he started to play Test cricket.

"It's obviously a great achievement, to actually make it to a hundred Tests knowing how my career has been with a lot of injuries and a lot of ups and downs it is very satisfying," said Chanderpaul. "I feel happy to make it there yet the game tomorrow is still a Test match and you have to go out there and play so your mind has to be focused on going out there and playing another game."

Twelve years after his debut against England at the Bourda Oval, his home ground, Chanderpaul has accumulated 6617 Test runs and 14 hundreds at an average of 44.70 but still felt he "loves batting more now". He said that it was desire to "bat all the time" that helped him through the difficult periods in his career.

On the eve of his 100th Test and a wealth of experience in his safe, Chanderpaul felt that being more experienced made it easier to bat. "When you're young it is easier to come out and bat freely with nothing on your mind," he said. "Now you know more about the game you feel more mature, you feel a little more confident in doing things, you understand more about everything that comes with the game."

Chanderpaul career has had its fair share of troughs because of injuries and other issues. He said it took "a lot of determination and perseverance" to pull through the difficult times the most recent being his resignation from captaincy after the tour of New Zealand in March.

"In cricket and in life you have to be disciplined. You have to keep fighting for what you want because nobody is going to get it for you. Even when you make mistakes you cannot sit back and relax, you have to get out there and work on it and avoid making the mistakes again. It's good to make one or two mistakes, you learn from them and you get better."