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Throughout the history of cricket, we have seen some incredible batters dominating eras with their flare and technique. But between the 1990s and 2010s, two batting greats - India’s Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies’ Brian Lara ruled the roost with their other-worldly batting ability. These players ended their careers as two of the greatest of all time and recently this duo came together for an interesting chat.
While speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, both Lara and Sachin talked about their impressions of each other when their crossed paths for the first time. Tendulkar talked about their meeting in Toronto, during a West Indies vs Rest of the World exhibition game in 1990. He further expressed that the pair struck up a connection almost immediately.
Sachin Tendulkar said, "The first time I met Brian was in 1990 in Toronto. I had scored my first Test 100 and just after that there was an exhibition game – West Indies vs Rest of the World. Saw him in the hotel lobby, the moment I saw him, we got along well."
Tendulkar also believes that Lara was less intimidating in comparison to fast bowlers like Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh. “We both were the youngest players of our respective sides. It was easier for me to match eyelines with Brian rather than Ambrose, Walsh and other fast bowlers. Whenever we met after that, Brian would look out for me or I would do it. It's not the player that he is, it's actually the person he is. I value that friendship," Tendulkar said.
Whereas Lara talked about how Sachin was one of the premier international players in the world and he was in complete shock when he saw the Indian face top-quality fast bowling. He said, "When I met Sachin, he was already an established teenager.”
“I was playing a lot of ODIs by then. Sachin said I was very small, fragile. I had the opportunity to hone my skills in one-dayers. My first impression of Sachin was that I had never seen an Indian batsman so accomplished against extreme fast bowling,” Lara continued.