the captaincy, Chanderpaul resigned the position, citing a desire to concentrate on his batting. Although his batting average during his captaincy was only slightly less than his career average, the West Indies only won one Test match and two ODIs out of thirty matches under his charge. The former West Indian bowler, Colin Croft suggested that Chanderpaul "was filling a space until some else could take over the mantle." Chanderpaul's stint as captain was generally criticised in the press; Nagraj Gollapudi, writing for ESPNcricinfo described his style as unconvincing, while Ian Chappell claimed that the West Indies needed a "father figure", rather than Chanderpaul, who he thought was "predictable and reactive". Post captaincy In early 2007, Chanderpaul recorded his second highest score in ODI cricket, hitting 149 not out in a losing cause against India. Later that year, he was the top-scorer for the West Indies during their series against England, aggregating 446 runs in three Tests at an average of almost 150. His achievements during the series earned him the man of the series accolade, and saw him named as one of the five Cricketers of the Year by the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. He was especially praised by Wisden for his third instance of batting for 1,000 or more minutes without being dismissed, and for his century in the third Test on a difficult pitch. He scored another century in the fourth match of the series, and was named as the man of the match, despite an England victory. His performances throughout 2007 resulted in him being one of four players short-listed for the ICC Player of the Year award, which was eventually won by Ricky Ponting. In 2008 Chanderpaul continued in his form during the Sri Lankan and Australian tours of the Caribbean. During the 2008 season he rose to be ranked 5th in the Test batting rankings. By the end of the third test against Australia, Chanderpaul became the fourth West Indian batsman to accomplish 8,000 runs in Test cricket as well as rising in the ranks to 2nd of the ICC test rankings, just 4 points shy of becoming the world's number 1 ranked batsman. In the Test match series against the Australians, Chanderpaul had amassed 442 runs in 6 innings, in 3 of which he had remained not out, at an average of 147.33, including two centuries and three half-centuries. From the West Indies second