By Timothy Jaikarran
After an encouraging debut season in 2018 with the St Lucia Stars (now Zouks) Guyanese lefthander Chandrapaul Hemraj had pretty much picked himself for another Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season. However, playing all of his cricket in Guyana and just two matches for Zouks Hemraj was hoping to be picked by the Guyana Amazon Warriors one day.
The Everest Cricket Club player closely followed the Player Draft in May and got his heart’s desire and breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing his name in the same sentence with the Guyana based franchise for the ‘Biggest Party in Sport.’
“It’s a great feeling to be part of the warriors this year, I didn’t play much t20 cricket recently but I enjoy playing the format because I’m naturally aggressive. I bring that aggressiveness at the top of the order, I would look to give the team a good start and capitalize on the power play and also entertain the crowd. I also want to help the team win the most games as possible and bring home the trophy this year.”
In his debut match Hemraj did not bat but watched from the dugout as his team mates piled up an impressive 212 for 2 only for the total to be overhauled by eventual champions Trinbago Knight Riders in an epic chase in St Lucia.
However, the 26-year old got an opportunity against Barbados Tridents and completely dominated a 56-run partnership with Australian David Warner with a typically entertaining 37 with three sixes and three fours against an attack that included Wahab Riaz, Jason Holder and Mohammad Irfan at the Kensington Oval.
Consistency remained with Hemraj and he was rewarded with his One Day International Cap against India towards the end of 2018 and retained his spot against Bangladesh in the series that followed to end the year on a high with huge expectations in 2019.
In his first match of the Regional Four Day tournament after international duties, the purple patch continued when Hemraj cracked an authoritative 144 for Guyana Jaguars against Barbados Pride right back at Kensington.
‘Hemmy’ who also bowls tidy slow left arm spin noted that he gained invaluable experience playing for the West Indies and once given a run in CPL he will use his expertise at the top of the order to get good starts and to win matches for the Warriors.
“It’s all franchise cricket, whenever you get the opportunity you want to go out there and do your best. But you know playing at home at the Providence Stadium, it’s going to be exciting, especially in front of your family and friends and it is something I am going to be looking forward to”
The young aggressive left hander also noted that the performance he gave in 2018 is not going to be the same in 2019, but one of a higher standard. Hemraj related that his fitness has improved a lot from the last time he played and that it is going to get better for CPL.
Hemraj ended the interview by saying, “to all my fans just come out and show your love, come out and show your support to the boys and we are going to try our best to bring home the trophy this year.”
