Chandrika ready to battle his way back into Jaguars’ team

By Akeem Greene

Rajendra Chandrika has played 58 First-Class games, totalling 2669 runs at an average of 25.91 with one hundred and 13 fifties. In the last of two matches in the 2017-18 Regional season, he came against Windward Volcanoes with scores of zero and seven.
More so, his highest First-Class score since March 2017 is 35. The result of this horrid run of form was him getting axed from the Guyana Jaguars.
However, the opening batsman has no plans whatsoever of rolling over and plans on fighting his way back onto the radar of selectors by being more consistent.
On Saturday at the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC), he commenced the first step in the battle by cracking an unbeaten 149 against the hosts for his Everest Cricket Club. Shot selection was immaculate and many wonder where was this style of batting last season.

Jaguars have held four-day supremacy for four consecutive seasons and many youngsters have graduated to the senior brigade, but for the 28-year-old “there is no giving in”.
“It is good to get back some runs. I will use the First Division and get back some form and keeping fighting to get back in the Guyana team. There is plenty of guys doing well, so getting back into the team means I have to continue doing well,” the right-handed batsman posited.

He further continued, “You have to realise that you have some good and bad seasons. Not every day you will get a good score and those must be taken into consideration. I just have to keep making runs and being up at the top so when the opportunity arises I am ready for it.”
The man from Enterprise on the East Coast of Demerara had a debut to forget in the second Test against Australia at Jamaica’s Sabina Park in 2015. He became the 40th player in the history of Test cricket to score a pair on debut – recording ducks in both innings.
In the four Tests to follow, things did not improve by any significant margin, since he has a high score of 37 and an average of 14.00. Certainly far from impressive, but the time away from the top has invoked a fighting desire to succeed.
“I have been in the situation where I have been dropped from Guyana team before and I have come back. I am more hungry to get back there and with Windies. As long as I have a good season for Guyana, I am giving myself a chance to get back into the maroons and it is a good challenge for me. I just need to put the scores on the board.”
If there was one noticeable flaw of the batsman, it was not being conscious of where his off-stump is. He has been bowled while leaving alone a delivery or caught constantly edging to the slip cordon. Cognisant of the flaw, he admitted he has done work to rectify the issue and now it’s more of a mental challenge.
“This season I looked at it [the flaws] and sometimes the adjustment is mentally and so much technical. I looked at those areas for the past couple of months and going into the First-Class tournament, they were sorted out. The matches I played last season, my dismissals were mostly down to bad shot selection,” the former High Performance Centre player contended.

Supporting the future
Clubmates Chandrapaul Hemraj and Tagenarine Chanderpaul are Jaguars’ new-look opening pair, with Hemraj going on to gain Windies A team selection and a place with the St Lucia Stars in the upcoming Hero Caribbean Premier League while Bhaskar Yadram and Akshaya Persaud have moved from the Windies Under-19 into the Jaguars unit.
“It is good to see Hemraj do well and Yadram is young and still has much to learn. I think Hemraj can do well and even represent West Indies. It is good to see your clubmates come out and perform. It is also good to be around and encourage them. Before Hemraj went to the A team, I had a few words with him; I am really happy for them.”
For the last four seasons, Cricket West Indies has adopted a professional cricket structure with the implementation of a franchise system, which means players can represent any territory. While representing Guyana remains Chandrika’s number one priority, playing for another team is an idea he has not thrown out the window.