'Ponting will be next'

Brian Lara's record for the highest number of Test runs (11,953) is about to fall.

India's legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar is just 14 runs off the West Indian's landmark total and the Indian could be celebrating beating that figure if his side bat first in the second Test against Australia in Mohali, north India.

Lara said it was only a matter of time before Tendulkar broke his record but was confident Australian captain Ricky Ponting would again rewrite the batting record.

Lara spoke to Gulf News about the record and his place in the history books.

GULF NEWS: How do you feel about Tendulkar being only few runs away from breaking your record?

LARA: It has been a pleasure for me to be in the elite company of Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Border and Sachin Tendulkar. I know Sachin is going to break the record soon, and my best wishes will always be with him.

But I really do not know how long he will be able to hold on to the record. Ricky (Ponting) is going to change all that in a few years!

What do you think of Ponting as a batsman?

He is a very special player. He has scored runs all over the world now and has been doing so for the last 10 years or so.

How did you view the Australian's first hundred in India?

India is really a difficult place to score runs. I can say so since I do not have a Test hundred here.

So, when Ricky did it, it must have been very satisfying for him too.

You are friends with Sachin Tendulkar.

Sachin has been a great friend. We had shared a partnership in Canada, representing the Rest of the World against Pakistan, the then world champions many years back. Ask him, and he still remembers every stroke we played during that innings. Phenomenal memory!

How good is Tendulkar?

He is a great player. People often say that a batsman is judged by the numbers of the matches he has won for the team, but I do not like to judge it this way. At the end of the day, Sachin has actually set up too many wins for his country. That's enough for me.

What was the best innings you saw Sachin play?

His 241 in Sydney when the Indians went to Australia in 2004. That knock is still very close to my heart.

Do you think it is time that India's four other senior players follow Sourav Ganguly's decision to retire?

In the West Indies, we faced a similar situation in the early Nineties. Viv Richards retired and Malcolm Marshall followed suit. It was hard to recover from that stage initially. I feel India should not face such problems.

However, it should be a gradual process of transition and there should not be any haste.