I hail thee, Brian Charles Lara.

Last couple of years has been what cricketers call “a purple patch”. It was a dream runs for any batsmen where he does not score run he piles them up, no different with Lara. He like Shane Warne has been mercurial on the field. When it’s his day, come rain or thunder; McGrath or Murali, he fights fire with fire.
When I woke up the clock showed ten minutes past ten and I switched onto the Start Sports with Lara not out on 10 runs more for two hundred. I remember Shane Warne quoting “He is due for big one.” The signs were so onus that the Wizard for waiting for the once proclaimed prince to besiege the rightful throne of highest runs scorer in Test Match history.
A great feat in itself. Let me take you through how Lara got his last eight runs i.e. from 192 to 200 not out. It was an evening Adelaide pitch. Bret Lee with the red cannon ball in his hand; running towards Lara like a raging bull. The ball is dug in short Lara seizes the opportunity and behind square for a power thud boundary. I know Adelaide Oval has small boundaries at the square*
Bret Lee not amused, place a fielder in the same position and again pitched the ball short hurling it towards his ribs. Lara a better puller and hooker among the present genre of batsman struck it well in front of square. The ball went past the boundaries before one could say L-A-R-A.
Warne and Lara an odd comparison to make. Many who follow cricket will agree but I would like to bring forward a few comparisons before we get onto the debate of “Lara Vs Tendulkar” debate. Both have been mercurial for their respective sides. But both have alone ensured victory the day when tide was against them. Both have been hugely flamboyant and always shrouded in controversy and some malaise drawing controversy and excelling at what they do best, playing cricket. If you happen to go and check out Wisden, The Bible of Cricket one will realize that Warne is a bowler who has captures more Test wickets than any body and Lara has scored more runs than any other batsmen in history of the game.
But scoring runs and not winning is what might be hurting Lara the most, in the past two years all his runs have been for losing cause. When he toured Sri Lanka he made 688 runs with an average of 114 runs per inning and West Indies were whitewashed.
If I may, if we compare him to Tendulkar he has matched him for stroke play and balanced the consistency of Tendulkar with his huge line of scores in excess of two hundred (I prefer calling it double century). Tendulkar prefer playing straight Lara prefer the square of the wicket region. But both are strong cutters and pullers. Lara is more fidgety shuffles around the crease a lot. Tendulkar is one of the most correct batsmen the game has seen. Both have dismissed teams on their own and demolished attacks alone. Tendulkar has four or more and Lara has nine. He has 31 centuries these include nine double centuries, one triple century one quadruple century (400 not out) all the in a Test arena and he also has a 501 not out in county cricket.
It may be on television but I have seen some innings of Lara which include:
A century in 2003 world cup where he sent South Africa packing.
An emotional 153 not out versus Australia
A double hundred against South Africa in South Africa.
Of course a 400 not out against England to save a match.

Lara stats are one which you can see with much awe and much more respect. At some point in future he will hang his gloves and Tendulkar will surpass his record Lara is shining and shining brightly as he has always done. When people will sit and talk of panache, flamboyance and uneasy drives cuts and flick to the square boundary people will bow to thee, Brian Charles Lara.
if you wish to check out any stats of any player who ever played cricket kust follow Wisden
*Square is nothing but number of adjacent strips in the ground which are used to prepare a pitch for playing cricket.