Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara?
Ratnakar Venkata - 3 April 2002
Sachin Tendulkar. The name inspires millions of cricket lovers
across the world. To some, he is demigod and, to others, perhaps
God himself. All this is but inevitable given the amazing
consistency of this child prodigy. A few years from now, no
player will dare take aim at this genius’ statistics - around
15,000 runs in one-dayers as well as Tests, including around 30-
odd tons in both forms are genuine possibilities.
But is greatness only about consistency and quantity? Enter Brian Charles Lara
This diminutive southpaw from the Caribbean announced his arrival
on the world stage in the 1992 World Cup. But that was just the
beginning. The innings he played in the years to come had one
unique characteristic about them; they were all were played amid
the literal ruins of the once-mighty West Indian side that is
going only one way - due south.
Consider these innings - 277 at Sydney in 1993, 375 at St John’s
in 1994 and, most recently, 153* at Bridgetown in1999. This last-
named innings deserves special mention as one of the best innings
played in living memory and is indeed rated the second in the
all-time top 100 Test innings as compiled by Wisden.
Let us see why. Chasing a victory target of 309 in the fourth
innings, the West Indies lost its fifth wicket for 105 runs on
the fifth day, the likes of Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie
breathing fire. Lara then put on a 133-run partnership with Jimmy
Adams, but soon the scoreboard read 254 for eight. Now he had to
wage the battle with Curtly Ambrose as a partner at the other
end, Courtney Walsh (the man who holds the record for most ducks)
still to come. Howzat?
Win the West Indies did, in one of the greatest Test victories in
the history of the game itself. Australia had scored 490 in the
first innings of the match, but they still lost the Test.
Furthermore, Lara's innings came on the heels of his epic 213 at
Sabina Park. And this is not even to mention that he was the
skipper of his side and under probation. Lara's scores in that
series are astonishing - 62, 5, 213, 8, 153*, 100, 7. Most of the
time, it was just Brian Lara versus Australia.
The statistics will always prove that Lara is streets ahead of
Tendulkar when it comes to scoring heavy runs in a series; his
centuries include scores of 375, 277, 221, 213, 182, 179, 167 and
153*. But Lara's game is not at all about statistics. The
classic innings he has played include the ones in the recently
concluded Sri Lankan tour against Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah
Muralitharan. Scores of 178, 40, 74, 45, 224, 130 flowed off his
bat, and this when his team was beaten 0-3. To further pursue the
records avenue, most of the occasions on which Tendulkar has
notched up a big century, his team has already put 150-200 runs
on the board. In contrast, Lara's team has always been in
tatters.
Cricket connoisseurs too would not brook too many arguments
before saying which of the two batsmen’s innings is more of a
magical treat to watch.
And finally, some other facts. While Lara features at number two
in the list of top 100 Test innings, a place in the top 100
eludes Tendulkar. In the one-day scale, Lara has two innings in
the top 10, while Tendulkar comes in only at number 23. These
ratings, for a change, take more into consideration than the
crowd attendance and the endorsement value of the player.
The views expressed above are solely those of the guest contributor and are carried as written, with only minor editing for grammar, to preserve the original voice. These contributed columns are solely personal opinion pieces and reflect only the feelings of the guest contributor. Their being published on CricInfo.com does not amount to an endorsement by CricInfo's editorial staff of the opinions expressed.
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