Lara all praise for friend Sachin

By SHARDA WADHWA

Mumbai

Sachin Tendulkar remains on brink of another record, perhaps the most prestigious of all. The Master Blaster is now just 14 runs behind Brian Lara’s record Test aggregate of 11,953 runs.

Lara is thrilled that a player of Tendulkar’s calibre will break his record, and is looking forward to see him go on to set many records in future.

"I wish my great friend Sachin all the very best to become the highest run getter in Test matches," Lara said during a recent visit to the city.

Often portrayed as rivals in their quest to regain the crown for "the best batsman in the world", the duo share a close relationship in real life.

Asked about his "best moment" with Tendulkar, Lara spoke of an exhibition match in 1992. Playing for the World XI team against the then world champions Pakistan, the duo put up a crucial partnership.

"Sachin and I once played in a friendly match in Canada against 1992 World Cup winners Pakistan, where we put up a decent partnership.

"After that, whenever we met, he would always discuss that match in particular. The best part is he was very young at that time, and till date, he remembers some of the shots we played. Similarly, I can never forget the young Sachin who played so fearlessly," said Lara.

According to the West Indian, Tendulkar’s best innings was the double century against Australia at Sydney in 2003-04.

"For me the best ever knock by Sachin would be his 241 against world champions Australia. That was a classic innings. He got behind every ball and hit it so confidently. That is still very fresh in my mind," he said.

When asked if the Little Master could match his distinction of being the only player to have scored a quadruple Test century, Lara was not too confident.

"Well I don’t know, but maybe he could do that in the Border-Gavaskar series. I would not mind if he achieves it, but I have a feeling some young player will definitely break that as well," he said.

A question of Tendulkar’s retirement was inevitable as well. Lara’s response was surprisingly forthcoming.

"I cannot predict when he will retire, but I can assure you he is the best player, and it’s a great feeling to be in the same elite group of batsmen as him. Secondly, I also know that more the pressure on him, the more he proves his critics wrong. That is the quality of a great batsman."