Sachin and Lara: An Appreciation
Wed, Jan 16, '02
By S. Dinakar
On the field of dreams, they soar high in the sky, living an
astonishing dream of their own. Breaking free from the mundane,
shattering barriers, turning fantasy into reality.
Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. The batting superstars, winning
duels and lighting up several faces along the way, have crossed a
significant milestone - 7000 Test runs.
When these two 'naturals' waltz in the middle, they embark on an
exhilarating ride. Into the 'rarefied zone' of extraordinarily rich
strokeplay.
Dazzling cricketers, similar yet different. One a simple genius,
other a moody magician. On a thrilling yet demanding journey,
scripting triumphs and enduring setbacks.
Speeding on a highway that has already taken them to greatness and
beyond... into the realm of the legends. It's a high-octane drive
and several more miles are bound to be gobbled up before they drift
into the sunset.
When the two little 'heavyweights' hold the centrestage, they
seldom hold back their punches. And bowlers and fielders are often
left rubbing their eyes in sheer disbelief.
Well, they don't come any bigger than Sachin Ramesh
Tendulkar and Brian Charles Lara. Natural born winners,
bringing with them freshness and freedom, Indian Sunshine and
Calypso Rhythm.
Interestingly, their careers run along parallel lines. Tendulkar
was not yet 16 when he walked into a Test arena for the first time,
in Karachi, '89, standing up to the likes of Imran Khan, Wasim
Akram and Waqar Younis without flinching.
Lara made his Test debut, also in Pakistan, the very next year,
Lahore being the venue. At 20, the Trinidadian was older than the
Indian too.
And now both these batting superstars, winning duels and lighting
up several faces along the way, have crossed a significant
milestone - 7000 Test runs.
Tendulkar got to the figure during his magnificent 155 in the
Bloemfontein Test against the South Africans, while Lara hurdled
over the landmark on way to a glorious first innings double hundred
in the recent third Test at Colombo's Sinhalese Sports Club ground.
There's an astonishing similarity in the number of Tests consumed
by both the maestros before the landmark was reached. Tendulkar
achieved the feat in 85 Tests, and Lara has done it in 83. However,
Tendulkar had a healthier average at 57.85 at that time to Lara's
49.65.
Indeed, the right-handed Tendulkar, an affable man, is consistency
personified, while southpaw Lara, the brooding superstar, has
undergone phenomenal highs and abysmal lows.
Lara is impulsive in his ways - reflected in the number of
sabbaticals he has taken from the game - and is prone to packing
his bags for a holiday resort before a crucial series, if his mood
is not right.
This is where Tendulkar scores over the Trinidadian. He is
mentally rock-hard, breathes cricket and his hunger for runs is
insatiable.
Something that boils down to discipline too. Learning his cricket
from the strict Ramakant Achrekar, Tendulkar has always walked
along the straight path, while Lara has a bit of a 'wild' streak in
him.
There are times when the Caribbean does appear a batsman playing
out of memory. However, when his mind and body are in harmony
enabling him to rediscover his timing and range, Lara conjures the
really 'huge' ones.
None bigger than his 375 at Antigua, '93, when he drove the English
bowlers to despair. The highest individual innings in Test cricket,
surpassing the mark of the incomparable Garry Sobers.
During such phases, Lara is more like a relentless run-making
machine, a quality one at that. Coaxing the ball into the empty
spaces with ridiculous ease.
Not surprisingly, Tendulkar has more centuries against his name
(27, after his recent first innings effort against England in
Ahmedabad, to Lara's 18, after the series against Sri Lanka) yet it
took the Mumbai player 11 long years to register his first Test
double hundred, at the cost of the Kiwis in Ahmedabad, 1999-2000. A
tendency to essay too many lofted strokes after reaching the
three-figure mark could be the reason for this relative failure.
On the positive side, Tendulkar has had very few dry runs, because
of a technique that is close to perfection - lovely body balance,
sure feet movement, an impeccable defence, a wide array of strokes
off either foot against both pace and spin, and an in-born ability
to cope with the challenges of different wickets and conditions.
This is also the reason why someone like Tendulkar, due to his
technical purity, can notch up a string of useful scores even when
he is not in the best of nicks. Lara invariably struggles in these
situations.
When on song, no two shots off Tendulkar capture the imagination
more than the straight drive and the pull. The left-arm is straight
and high and he just 'times' the ball past the bowler, the cherry
speeding to the fence.
And then the pull, when he picks the length of the delivery in a
jiffy, sending the ball past the ropes in the arc between
mid-wicket and square-leg in a flash, is a masterpiece. The key is
how quickly Tendulkar gets into a position.
Remember the Chennai Test of '98, when Shane Warne zeroed in on the
rough outside the leg-stump, only to find Tendulkar pulling the
ball spinning sharply into him with disdain. That awesome hundred
will surely be among Tendulkar's most cherished memories.
With his high-backlift and shuffling ways landing him in trouble on
quite a few occasions, Lara is a notch below Tendulkar technically,
but his astonishing reflexes coupled with hand-eye coordination
make him very special.
It is indeed an exciting sight when Lara, either balanced on one
leg or airborne, whips a delivery just short of a good length to
the square-leg fence or drives exquisitely through the covers.
Using his feet delightfully, Lara handled the dangerous Muttiah
Muralitharan with panache in the recent series, has dealt firmly
with the tantalising leg-spin of Shane Warne, but rangy Aussie
paceman Glenn McGrath has invariably won the confrontation with the
West Indian, charging in from round the wicket, and harrying Lara
with pace, bounce and away movement.
It was a different story though in the 1999 series at home against
McGrath & co, when Lara, at his peak, rattled up three dazzling
hundreds in three Tests, lifting Windies from the depths of despair
to glory, rallying with the tail, two of the three-figure knocks
being match-winning ones.
Tendulkar would love to play a major winning hand in a fourth
innings chase. He was perilously close to achieving this in the
Chennai Test of '99 against the varied Pakistan attack, battling
against a painful back injury, that ultimately led to his downfall
when India was just a whisker away from the target.
Coming to captaincy, both have encountered their moments of
despair. Tendulkar, forever seeking perfection from his men, left
an angry, frustrated man, finally relinquishing the top-job. In the
case of Lara, his aloofness meant he could never communicate with
his team-mates.
Both are masters of their own destiny, when they let the willow do
the talking. Soaring high in the sky and breaking barriers... in
the field of dreams.
SOURCE: The Hindu's SportsStar magazine.