10 Most Underappreciated Players in Cricket History

Shivnarine Chanderpaul was brilliant but unfashionable

West Indies: Shivnarine Chanderpaul (11,867 runs @ 51.37)

This is by far the clearest example of one player being undervalued due to living in the shadow of another. Chanderpaul is one of the greatest batsmen to have graced the game, but he spent much of his career being viewed as an understudy to Brian Lara.

This is perhaps surprising when the runs they scored and their averages are nearly identical, but Chanderpaul's method of batting was quiet whereas Lara's was operatic. Lara would decimate opposition teams in a matter of minutes, but with Chanderpaul, it was death by a thousand cuts. Yet he was no less effective.

Chanderpaul's Test career commenced in 1994, just as the West Indies were losing their spot at the top of the cricketing world. His career would last over twenty years and include some of the greatest fighting innings the game has seen.

By the time Lara retired in 2006, Chanderpaul was already seen as a very strong batsman and a fierce competitor. But it was after Lara's retirement that he reached his peak.

Chanderpaul averaged over 100 in each of the two years following Lara's retirement. Much of the latter part of Chanderpaul's career was also played for a West Indies team that was a shadow of its former self.

While the likes of Sir Vivian Richards and Gordon Greenidge saw their best innings lead their country to victory, Chanderpaul's best innings often only helped in limiting the damage.

Chanderpaul's innings therefore often don't carry the same mystique, but in many ways, they are more important, as there were plenty of times when the West Indies could easily have won without the help of Greenidge and Richards, but they relied on Chanderpaul frequently.