The Prince Of Cricket

Welcome once again to yet another episode of the “Champion’s Folklore”. The champion I’ve got today,  man it’s an absolute delight to be able to write about someone of the caliber of this left hander. Ladies and Gentlemen I’m talking about the one and only , the inimitable Brian Charles Lara, someone who brought delight to fans and players all over the globe. 

 You knew when you first saw Brian Lara in 1990 against Pakistan that he was something special, even in those brief innings there was an awe in his batting. Then he went to the 1992 World Cup got some runs there for the West Indies, but it wasn’t until 1993 that the world knew who Brian Lara truly was. Only 5 test matches old Brian Lara scored his maiden test century at Sydney also the place where Tendulkar got his break out century, their careers were to run parallel for such a long time. In that innings of 277 against Australia, it felt as though he captivated Australian cricket like a few others had done at the SCG. Later on he went on to name his daughter Sydney after the ground where he got his maiden ton. His second hundred was a 167 and his next hundred in his 16th test match was the one in which he went past his fellow country man, the legendary Sir Garfield Sobers, when he scored a record breaking 375 in one innings against England at Antigua. Then he went to Warwickshire to play county, there was a game where he was dropped early on and the wicket keeper had said,” I think he’s gonna get a 100 in the next game.” The rest as they say is history, a story that Michael Holding narrates so beautifully, in his words, “And then he got a hundred and then another and then another and then another and then yet another all in one innings.” Who would’ve thought that 500 runs could be scored in a single innings by an individual? In that period of 1994 Lara was in a purple patch that batsmen only dream of. He then came into the 1996 World Cup knocked South Africa out of the tournament by scoring a 100 of such brilliance and incandescence that it’s talked about yet still today. There was the series in 1999 against Australia where the West Indies had got all out for 51 in one of the games, in came Brian Lara and peeled off a 227 in the very next one to draw a level in the series. After that came one of the most influential innings that Brian Lara ever played. In the 3rd test match of that series West Indies needed a 337 to win in the 4th innings and there was Brian Lara with his magnificent 150 that ultimately helped the West Indies clinch a historic series victory down under. If you were to talk about the second most influential series of Lara’s career you’ll have to talk about the 2001 Sri Lanka series, remember the West Indies lost the series 3-0 but Lara scored an astounding 688 runs from 3 test matches. There was Murali at his best simply running through the batsmen at one end but it felt as though he hit a rock solid wall on the other. In many ways Lara toyed with Murali in that series, so much so that people in the cricket circuit remember that series for Lara’s unfathomable exploits against Murali. Then there was the 2003 world cup which was held in South Africa, everyone thought that the hosts were favourites to win the world cup, then there was Brian Lara scoring a 100 against the hosts in the very first game. Now other cricketers were also getting big scores, there was Mathew Hayden who in October, 2003 scored a 380 in a game against Zimbabwe there by going past Lara’s 375. However it didn’t take him long to get that record back. It was in April, 2004 that Lara returned to Antigua and scored that magical 400 in a game against England. 

 Lara played One Day cricket as well and actually he played it good enough to score over 10,000 runs in the ODI format but for me Lara was always a master of the red ball cricket a format he made his own. The thing about Lara was he could go on for half an hour playing in a way that you’ll think he was never going to score a run and then there was burst and he was scoring better than run a ball. He had both aspects to his game and because he had the ability to score quickly is why he used to get those 500s, 400s, 300s and 200s. Actually if you take a look you’ll see that 19 off his 34 test 100s were scores more than 150. Finally when Brian Lara signed off after having scored 11953 runs in test cricket and 10405 runs in ODIs he asked very politely “Did I entertain?” and I think that the world replied to that question with a resounding “Yes”. Apart from being a batsman of greatness and caliber unmatched Lara was a cricketer who always played fair and in the true spirit of the game. In many ways he was not only a role model for West Indies cricket but a protector of Cricket as a whole. Brian Lara take a bow!!!