I really wanted to be on par with him: Brian Lara on his first impression of Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are two legends of the sport and the legacy left behind by both isn’t just huge but very few people can even dream about coming in close vicinity to the legends. On day 5 of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara talked about each other’s first impressions.

Tendulkar, who is four years younger to the Caribbean icon started his international cricket career a year ahead of Lara in 1989. It was for the first time in an exhibition match in Toronto that the duo crossed paths with each other.

Talking about their first meeting, Sachin 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. 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.”

He further added, “My first impression about Brian was his terrific balance. That agility in the crease, getting to the pitch of the ball, great hands, it's a God's gift.” Even when Sachin was taking his baby steps in the international arcade, he was still deemed as one of the most prolific cricketers of his age.

As Sachin heaped praise on the Caribbean southpaw, Lara had a few similar words for the Master Blaster. The former Windies captain 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. Indian batters were good against spin but here was a teenager who scored runs against the best teams, bowling attacks in the world. From that day, I measured myself against Sachin. He was a few miles ahead of me at that time, I really wanted to be on par with him.”

Despite the rivalry in the international sphere, the duo had a strong bond going on between them whenever India and West Indies met. The duo scored 56715 international runs between them, forging a history that would take immense effort to be paralleled.