Some of the members of the Indian Test team are set to be part of a small list of players who have played against a father-son duo in Test cricket as they take the field on July 12 for the first Test against the West Indies.

India will take on West Indies for a two-Test series to start their 2023-2025 World Test Championship campaign. Tagenarine Chanderpaul, who has quickly established himself as one of the most exciting young prospects for West Indies in the longer format, is set to continue as the opening partner for skipper Kraigg Brathwaite.

Tagenarine is the son of legendary left-hander Shivnarine Chanderpaul and will be playing his first Test against India and his seventh overall. His father, who retired from Test cricket in 2015, last played a Test match against India in West Indies’ 2013 tour of India.

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin, three players who are part of the current India Test squad that will take on Chanderpaul Jr & Co, also featured in the 2013 Test squad that played against West Indies.

If all three of them take the field in Dominica for the first Test, they will become part of a small list of players who have played Test cricket against both a father (Shivnarine Chanderpaul) and a son (Tagenarine Chanderpaul), assuming Tagenarine is also named in the playing XI for West Indies.

There have been several father-son duos in international cricket over the years and a handful of players have played against both a father and a son. One of the most notable such pairs was that of New Zealanders Lance Cairns and Chris Cairns.

Lance made his debut in 1973 and played his last Test in 1985, while Chris, his son, made his Test debut just four years later, in 1989. Several stalwarts of that era, the likes of Ian Botham, Wasim Akram, Arjuna Ranatunga, Allan Border, and more, played against both father (Lance) and son (Chris). Rohit, Kohli, and Ashwin are set to be added to that list.

Chanderpaul has made a good start to his Test career, having scored 453 runs in six Tests at an average of 45.3. His father was known for having a unique batting technique that consisted of an almost entirely open stance. While Tagenarine’s technique isn’t an exact replica of his father’s, he does have a significantly unorthodox style of batting like him.

The first West Indies-India Test starts on July 12 at the Windsor Park in Dominica. West Indies are coming off a forgettable World Cup Qualifier campaign and would be hoping that the likes of Chanderpaul, who were not part of the squad that suffered humiliation in Zimbabwe, would bring freshness and a change of fortunes in the camp.

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