The Prince of West Indies: Revisiting Brian Lara's lofty peaks
The romantics of cricket would argue that it is a batsman's game made thrilling by bowlers. In the constant struggle for supremacy in the contest of bat versus ball, several talents have lifted the spirit of the contest displaying unparallel skills with the willow.
The likes of Ponting, Jayasuriya, Hayden and Sehwag made batting look easy and made light work of their bowling opposition, scoring rapidly. Then there are batsmen who played with élan, exhibiting an oasis of calm under intense situations.
You would count the Saeed Anwar's, Dravid's, Laxman's and Alistair Cook's into this category. Who can undo the shadow of God of Cricket from blanketing the game with pure greatness!
But as you sift past cricket's magnanimous repository of versatile batsmen, you'd always halt, glare and take cognizance of a special clan of batsmen who exuded a warrior like aura. And truth be told, there aren't many who feature in this special league, save for a certain Brian Charles Lara.
An all time legend, a batsman possessing a vociferous appetite to score big runs and a multiple-record breaker! West Indies hero Brian Lara is all that and more. The man who turns 47 on May 2 and one who retired almost a decade back from international cricket still continues to be a global superstar and among all-time legends Cricket has ever produced.
We revisit the many majestic highlights of Lara's stellar career in an earnest tribute:
1. Lara writes history books at Antigua: page 375
A batting prodigy, many felt Lara was marked for greatness. And he demonstrated a fierce appetite to gun for great glories from the beginning of his checkered career. In the summer of 1994, during England's tour of the West Indies, during the fifth and final test of the Wisden trophy, Antigua was the place to be at.
Brian Lara, a young batting star emerging on the West Indian galaxy had cut loose on the big stage.
In his masterpiece at Antigua's rather flat pitched surface, Lara tamed the likes of Chris Lewis, Andy Caddick, Angus Fraser and Phill Tufnell, displaying extraordinary skill on his way to a record-breaking 375, punctuated by 45 boundaries. Going 10 runs past Sobers, an all-time West Indies legend, Lara was the new star on the horizon.
Displaying tenacity, a hallmark trait of his personality, Lara batted for 766 minutes at the crease on way to scoring his highest individual test score.