Brian Charles Lara - Kya hai Maara (The last Batting Genius of my time)

Ah Lara - the moment the topic shifts to him, my heart starts beating faster....There is one innings of him of several innings played comes into my mind, let me share my thoughts on this batsman/innings (153* against the mighty Australia in Bridgetown, Barbados in 1999).

To share a friends definition, If one has to measure genius it will be on these 2 parameters in my opinion

1.     Amount of effort put into the game v/s results obtained
2.     Effect of occasion/quality of opposition + pitch on one's game

Brian Lara was inarguably the last true genius to play the game who would satisfy both the criterias fully (KP would fall in the 'arguable' category).   There was very little effort in his batting; it was just artistry at work. Everything was poetry in motion right from his high backlift the curve he made when he brought down his bat to the way he used to play those cover drives and pulls (Lord Natraj style) . When he was in the zone the world was a beautiful place to live in J On the second point, Lara made bowlers and pitches irrelevant. From Waqar, Akram, Mcgrath, Murali, Warne, Donald, Pollock all have suffered big time against him. He has scored tons in the worst pitches from Perth to Jo Burg to the dust bowls of Lanka to all the grounds in England.

Talking about Lara elevating himself in the toughest of positions.

I still remember: Some days Lara would walk in, come to the pitch, hold the bat straight to the ground with his palm/fingers supporting it at the top of the handle and everyone; opponents would wait for the announcement,

“You cannot get me this innings.” OR “Not Today”

Anything could be tried by opposition, all great bowlers might be put into the same team if need be, all could bowl un-ending overs, you could rely on the breaks between sessions for help or for the matter the break between days.

But you are not gonna get him.

I don’t think any of his peers displayed the same level of genius streaks, Before him Only Viv (inarguable) and Greg Chappel (arguable) had that quality since the time I started seeing cricket in the early 80's.

That Innings of 153*!!! What can I say about that!! It is easily the best test match innings played in the last 50 years, though Wisden rated it 2. It is important to understand the context of this innings before rating it. These were proper WI pitches of late 1990's and batting was usually tough on these and in any case its tough to face Mcgrath, Reiffel, Gillespie, Warne all pretty much in their prime on WI tracks where WI quicks used to thrive.

The first test in Port of Spain, WI were bowled out for 51 which was a record low for a proud (at that time in 1998) team. The team was down and out for all practical purposes

The second test in Jamaica has Australia score around 250 odd in first innings. Lara walked in soon enough and WI were reduced to 30 odd for 4. Obituaries were already being written by the Coziers of the world. And then Lara scripted the most remarkable turnaround (one which was somewhat matched by VVS/RD in Kolkata) in the test series. He scored 213 and Adams scored some 80 odd and together they added 300 odd runs. WI went to gain a handsome lead of 170 odd and win that match comfortably.

The stage was then set for Barbados and I don’t need to explain how Barbados behaves as a pitch. Australia started strongly and made around 500 with Waugh playing an unbelievable innings of 199 and Ricky scoring a ton. Still remember seeing Waughs innings at 2 in the morning and cursing him for playing so well. WI conceded a huge lead of around 150+ as Lara failed. Then Walsh bowled a stunning spell of pace bowling and destroyed AUS and they were shot out for 150 odd. WI were set a target of 308 and were 100 for 5 with Lara and Adams at the crease their last pair. I think Adams scored 20 odd that day but Lara was in supreme touch. Every loose ball was punished, every good ball defended. Mcgrath was too good that day. He bowled more than 40 overs and got 5 wickets but not the one that mattered. Back to the innings, soon it was 230 odd for 6 and then 2 more wickets fell quickly and at 240 for 8 it was just a matter of time when Curtly Ambrose - my all time favorite bowler - joined my all time favorite batsman at the crease. Curtly missed and missed again and again but spent more than a hour and survived 30 balls which is good enough for the genius to switch a couple of gears. Soon the score touched 300 but Curtly departed with 6 runs needed but the problem was it was Walsh on strike. I have no clue how Walsh survived those 5 balls at the crease. It was almost a miracle. Lara hit the first ball of Gillespies next over through the covers for a 4 and WI had clinched the most unbelievable victory. One needs to remember that this was not a hit and miss innings. Lara played more than 250 balls for his 150 and WI took more than 120 overs to reach their target and last 3 hours of the innings was completely with tailenders. And this was the 4th innings played on a Barbados wicket. If one remember, India were chasing 120 in Barbados but were shot out for 80 there. The wicket was not as bad but you get the gist right?

People need to understand that Lara played at a time when WI were already down and out. Lara singlehandedly ensured that WI survived their decline for a good 10 more years. If Lara had not come WI would have been dead in 1992. Lara ensured they died 'completely' only in the 2000's. To people who are throwing some win percentage stats of Sachin and Lara, please note the times which Lara played were similar to the times Sachin played between 1989 and 1996 and I am sure Sachin’s win percentage during this time was very poor, in fact I hardly remember India winning anything overseas till Rahul Dravid (RD) came to the fore in 1996. Sachin had no support just like Lara. From 1996 Sachin had Saurav, VVS and RD playing with him and 2 good openers and hence India started winning. Lara had the likes of Campbell above him and mostly mercurial talents like Hooper and Adams around him but mostly he was all alone. Chanderpaul later on became a very good test batsman but that was more in the 2000's. But even then Lara used to give WI a hope and more often than not converted that hope to atleast a draw if not a win. No person can win a test match alone, not even a genius like Lara, Tests can be won singlehandedly only by bowlers not by batsmen. But when Lara played like only he can, pitches became irrelevant, bowlers who were otherwise world class were reduced to stand and applaud. I am not surprised Ponting said that he used to worry more about Lara than Sachin in tests. That makes sense to me. Lara doesn’t have too many test wins against his name but a large proportion of the tests he managed to atleast take to a draw and many times the team still lost, so pathetic was their team.

Starting from the 277 in Sydney, his 167 in Georgetown, to the triple treat of 1995 in England (three in a row), to his 132 in Perth (his second best innings IMO) ,to his 90 odd in Mohali,  to the losing cause double tons against SL (these were master classes on underprepared turners) and SA (the double ton in SA in Jo burg and the  100 in Capetown were played on rubbery spongy pitches against one of the best SA attack ever), to the 191 against Zim (WI were shot out for 100 in first innings I think, in Bulawayo and would have been shameful for them to lose to Zim) or his stunning centuries against Pak where he dismantled Kaneria (he was a good bowler then) among other bowlers, most of these innings were stuff of legends.

Lara’s performance was an example of what happens when Sheer Talent meets Determination and pressure. The amount of pressure Lara went thru prior to the Kingston innings (213) was enormous. It was his determination which ended the series 2-2 in 1999.

This is what Steve Waugh has written in his autobiography.

"Lara is a good player against average bowling sides and a great one against formidable attacks but when harassed into a corner by his own brinksmanship or if he's targeted, he elevates himself into a genius."

In Sachin’s case, he is the same against all attacks . His 248 against Bangladesh showed what disciplined batsman sachin was. I am not sure if Lara would have taken Bangladesh seriously. I like both for different reasons.

If Lara is not the best test batsman in the last 25 years, I don’t know who is!!!

P.S - I respect and admire Sachin a lot for his consistency and his ability to score runs but I won’t call him a bad wicket player in tests. I would rate Sunny and Rahul Dravid ahead of him in tests among Indian players itself. As someone said, In tests, Sachin is a 'great' scorer of runs but not always a scorer of 'great' runs, if one can understand the difference.