Dubai: The genius from West Indies has always prompted a ‘Lara or Tendulkar’ debate on the benchmark of greatness during his playing days, but Brian Lara is not keen to join any such discussion now.
Not even if it’s a query if Indian captain Virat Kohli is ahead in the race to wear the greatest batsman’s tag in this generation.
“Yes, Kohli is an exceptional talent, but I have never got involved in such conversations. You have got to appreciate each player for his contribution to the game,” the master batsman said during an exclusive interview with Gulf News on the sidelines of the formal launch of GEMS Heritage Cricket Academy at the premises of GEMS Heritage Indian School on Friday.
'Virat is a big star'
Driving home his point further, Lara said: “Even during my time, a Rahul Dravid may not have been as stylish or score runs as quickly, but if you want someone to bat for your life, it’s got to be Dravid. You have got to appreciate every single player’s contribution to this great game.
“Virat is a big star and he is racing past all records but even if you ask him, he would possibly say it’s more important to him to bring Indian cricket back to the top,” said the owner of 34 Test centuries, who still holds both the highest individual Test and first class scores of 400 and 501, respectively.
Like any of the past West Indies greats, the current health of Caribbean cricket pains him – though Lara is not as harsh as some others. “I don’t want to blame the rot on the players only as there had been issues between them and the establishment – mind you our best cricketers are not playing in the current Test series against India while the other teams are at their full strength.
Personal responsibilities
“However, it’s also upto them to take up more personal responsibilities. The way they beat England at Headingley last year after conceding defeat in the first Test match, it was not a fluke but the result of some brilliant cricket over five days. It’s disappointing that their performance graph had gone down after that in this way. Yes, winning in India is difficult but the team should be fighting over four-five days of the Test match,” he said.
The dilemma of a top flight West Indies cricketer in the current scenario – be it a senior pro like Chris Gayle or Andrew Russell – is all too well documented in recent years. Asked about his own take on this often sensitive issue of club or country, Lara showed he has a lot of time for franchise cricket.
“You hope that country’s cause will rule but I am very appreciative of the work franchise cricket has done over the past decade. I grew up at a time when the boards had a stranglehold over the players, who often had to sacrifice their pride. Now, franchise cricket is giving that space to cricketers to make a living as they also have a family to take care of,” said Lara, who himself broke ranks to join the Indian Cricket League (ICL) in it’s formative years.
There will always be a special place for Test cricket in Lara’s heart though. “At the end of the day, I am a purist and feel there is no better cricket than Tests…the sight of a Sohaib Akhtar bowling one of his spells against Sachin [Tendulkar] will always be my favourite.”
This could be the cricket romantic in Lara speaking, but the fact remains that the game is now losing out on characters like him, Shane Warne or an Akhtar for that matter. Asked if the overkill of cricket is one of the factors behind it, Lara said: “Yes, it could be too much cricket now or too little cricket then so whatever you saw, you got excited. Cricket has become a job now where you have got to stay fit and deliver and not be a carefree self, before going on to add: “There is so much cricket being played now that I don’t even know where Gayle is now.
“Yes, there needs to be a bit more organisation but then the English Premier League and football is played for 11 months in a year and people love it. I would say someone like Gayle is still a character,” he signed off.
