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Has Brian Lara been unfairly excluded from all-time Text XIs? More suitable than Viv and Sachin?

Harsh Thakor

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Strangely many selections of cricinfo-all-time xi,ESPN all-time xi of Geoff Armstrong's all-time xi or Geoff Boycot's all-time xi leave out Brian Lara.Many lists include Badman,Viv Richards and Tendulkar and exclude Lara.In the players all-time xis' Viv and Sachin got considerably more votes than Lara.

To me purely in test cricket for selection in an all-time test match xi by a whisker Lara overshadowed Sachin and Viv.Lara had a greater penchant for mammoth scores,(even more than Bradman)a higher average percentage score out of the team's total,bore the brunt of a weaker batting line up and singe-handedly turned games more .Sachin and Viv did not surpass Lara's match-wining 153 at Barbados v Australia in 1999 or single-handedly turned the fate of a single series like Lara did in the 1999 Frank Worrel trophy.In Anantha Narayana's evaluation Lara was only 2nd to Bradman in test cricket and had a higher match performance rating which considers strength of oposition,state of game,impact on match ,nature of wicket etc.Viv performed better in peak area but played for a champion team,Tendulkar was more consistent but at his best did not change the complexion of game like Lara.To ressurect a team from the grave to glory Lara overshadowed any great batsmen.

Lara was a left-hander which was another boon for a team.He may have been a more appropriate foil for Bradman than Viv or Sachin.On turning tracks he would overshadow Viv while against sheer pace his natural ability may have been more of an asset than Sachin to a test team.In a crisis Lara would outperform Viv and Sachin.Tendulkar was technically better and Viv more flamboyant but still it is Lara who had the highest creatives genius who could play strokes that were surreal.Lara could carry on the thread of an innings more than Sachin or Viv.Glen Mcgrath rated Lara the hardest batsmen he ever bowled to while Alan Donald felt no batsmen had more natural ability.In full flow he blended the agression of a boxer with the creativity of a musician and elegance of a ballad dancer like no batsmen of his time.Overall, as a pure batsmen he could have been more effective than even Gary Sobers and probably the best left-handed batsmen of them all.

Lara is the equivalent of a Wasim Akram to batting and thus should win a place in the all-time xi.His left-handed variety would be the ultimate asset.

In Richard Sydenham's book of cricketer's all-time xi's Viv has 64 votes and Sachin 42.Lara has only 25.Surprisingly most Pakistan greats voted for Brian like Wasim Akram or Inzamam Ul Haq or Sead Anwar. Maybe because they hardly played test cricket against India.Strange that Gavaskar,Greg Chappell,Barry Richardsetc excluded Lara .They included the likes of Viv Richards and Greame Pollock.Infact quite a few yesteryear stars like Mike Procter chose Graeme Pollock.I disagree that Pollock surpassed Lara as a performer as he hardly played test cricket.Graeme may have been a genius or superstar but in my opinion did not emulate Lara.

A mercurial Lara could on his day be more effective than even Bradman,revealing cricketing genius at it's superlative height.Only flaw was slack of consistency like Tendulkar.
 
Its tough to not pick Tendulkar , Lara was more match winner , but Tendulkar had better defence , had almost all shots , and looked really more balanced.
 
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