During the late 80s two great batsmen rose from dust, one was a right hander and the other was a left hander. Though they were spirited batsmen but they differed each other with their unique style and batting manoeuvre.
Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar became the greatest batsmen of all time building up platform for the youngsters. But people around the globe and even Shane Warnee treated Sachin Tendulkar as the ace batsman over Lara.
Both these batsmen were able to hit different stokes and played against the most lethal bowlers. But they played well in different forms of games, Lara was well equipped with his skills to play in Tests and Sachin was a challenge by his self to play the ODIs.
Now, we should understand that every player is not suited to play the different formats. So, how can we make such differences and rate the players according to their records?
Can we place Sachin and Lara over Sir Don Bradman or on top of Sir Viv Richards or Sir Garfield Sobers just because their pockets are filled with records more than anyone else? If this is impossible then how can we make differences between Sachin and Lara?
Shane Warnee was absolutely wrong when he rated the greatest players of all time. If Warne thought he was hammered mercilessly by Sachin, and dreamt nightmares of that particular match, then what about Lara? Did Lara spare Warne during the incursion?
Sachin is an excellent cricketer but only in ODIs whereas Lara played the Tests with patience. Lara had the potentiality to play longer innings and stayed on the crease for a longer period. It is because of this he was able to break the 365 runs barrier which stood for more than 30 years.
We should also understand that the record was broken during the early 90s when Brian Lara was trying to make a place in the West Indies squad. A fresh batsman came from nowhere and broke the Test record of Sir Garfield Sobers was really magnificent. In that same year he was able to hit 501 not out while playing domestic cricket for the English County side.
This feat can only be managed by an experienced batsman like Sir Garfield Sobers who was well set in cricket for years. Lara also went to achieve the second place after Sir Don Bradman to create 9 double Test centuries. He was also capable of making most number of 150 plus, 19 of those just one head of Sir Don Bradman.
Moreover, if Herschelle Gibbs was able to hit the most number of runs in an over in the World Cup match, then Lara went on to become the first cricketer with more runs in an over. Lara was able to hit 28 runs against R. Peterson while playing against South Africa; the record is still to be broken in Test.
Lara also became the highest run getter in Test which was later taken over by Sachin, who also made the most number of centuries in Test. On the other side of the field, Sachin made history by becoming the only batsman to get more centuries and 50s in ODIs.
During the clash of the Titans, Lara and Sachin were at their peak but in different formats of the game. Lara wasn’t a magnificent cricketer in the ODIs and was able to make only 19 centuries, while Sachin couldn’t even manage to get past of Lara’s records in Test. It was after the retirement of Lara, Sachin was able to break the records of most number of runs and centuries in Test cricket.
It was until years of experience and improvement of techniques, Sachin became the first man on the planet to hit a double century in the ODI against South Africa.
It is because of these reasons that both the players are different and created remarkable feats in the world of cricket. Lara was well set in Test while Sachin’s explosive shots were devastating in ODIs.
