In his third Test, Tagenarine Chanderpaul achieved what has only been achieved once in the history of Test cricket. Son of legendary West Indies batter Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Tangenarine hit his maiden Test double ton against Zimbabwe. The 207-run knock made Tagenarine and Shivnarine the second father-son duo to hit a double ton in Test cricket.
The first father-son duo to achieve this feat was Pakistan’s Hanif and Shoaib Mohammad. In December 1989, Shoaib hit an unbeaten double ton (203*) against India at Lahore to become first to achieve the feat.
Overall, the Chanderpaul duo became the 12th father-son duo to score a century in Test cricket.
On Day 3 of first Test of two-Test series against Zimbabwe, the 26-year-old opener scored an unbeaten 207 off 467 deliveries including 16 fours and three sixes. Tagenarine managed to surpass his father’s high score in Test cricket. Shivnarine scored unbeaten 203 against South Africa at Georgetown in 2005.
The southpaw became 10th West Indies batter to convert his maiden Test ton into a double century.
He shared a mammoth 336-run partnership with Brathwaite. This is the highest opening partnership for West Indies. They broke legendary duo Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes’s record of 298-run opening partnership against England in 1990.
It is also the highest opening partnership in Test cricket against Zimbabwe. The previous best belonged to Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu and Sanath Jayasuriya who shared a 281-run partnership in 2004 at Harare.
Tagenarine’s unbeaten double ton helped West Indies post 447/6 before skipper Kraigg Brathwaite declared the innings.
Zimbabwe’s leg-spinner Brandon Mavuta took five wickets for 140 runs from 41 overs. Mavuta's 5/140 is the fifth-best bowling figures for Zimbabwe against West Indies in Test cricket. Had Brathwaite not declared the innings, he would have broken Ray Price's record (6/73).
In reply to West Indies' 447/6, Zimbabwe openers Innocent Kaia and Tanunurwa Makoni got their side off to a positive start.
