I was asked to retire from ODIs, says Shiv

CMC

Saturday, May 07, 2011

PROVIDENCE, Guyana (CMC) — Shivnarine Chanderpaul confirmed that he was asked to retire from One-Day Internationals by West Indies officials.

The West Indies batsman was speaking during a radio interview with the Line & Length Network during coverage of the final One-day International between West Indies and Pakistan.

"I don't think that's a rumour, that's the truth," said Chanderpaul. "They called me into a meeting and asked me to retire. I said I'm not retiring and when I left the meeting, they were all pretty upset about it," he said.

Chanderpaul also claimed that the current West Indies management interfered with his batting during matches, and subjected him to intense questioning about his approach.

"Every time I settled in and started to get runs, messages would come telling me what to do and what not to do, how to bat and how not to bat," he said.

"I've been doing this for 17 years. When John Dyson was coach he never said anything to me. When Bennett King was coach he said, 'You go and do your job, we don't have to tell you what to do'. I had no problem then," explained Chanderpaul.

He said: "Now we have people here, who are telling me how to bat. And when the game is over, I have to answer questions. I have to answer those questions and when I do, and it's not suitable, then I have to agree with whatever answers they want before the meeting is over.

"I've been called into meetings everyday, or every other day, spending hours answering questions. You never leave a meeting until they get whatever answer they want."

Chanderpaul has been embroiled in a public spat with the West Indies Cricket Board chief executive Ernest Hilaire.

The durable left-handed batsman wrote two open letters demanding explanations from Hilaire about his comments concerning the attitude of players.

The Guyanese rejected this suggestion, and disclosed that the players were doing what they've been told to do.

"The CEO and the executive members of the board made a decision to get rid of the senior players," he said.

"They will have passed on that information to the chairman of selectors and the coach and let them pressure us in every way they can, which they did.

"I see Christopher Gayle in the gym working, Ramnaresh Sarwan doing extra work. All of us doing extra work, and yet we've been cast aside just like this."