Borders are meant to be crossed

Posted by Jay-talking!

Borders are meant to be crossed and so are Bradmans, Gavasakars & Tendulkars.

Brian Lara stands on his own when we want to talk of batting geniuses (and this coming from an unabashed Sachin Tendulkar fan).

There is something so very enigmatic about Brian Charles Lara. Defying hopes that he fail every time he went out to bat so that Tendulkar could overtake him soon. Defying wishes that people criticize him for his flashy batting..his unorthodox play. Defying statistics. Defying history (no mortal man has returned to regain the record of highest Test score). Defying Fate. And ultimately defying die-hard Sachin fans and succeeding in winning them over to his league of admirers. Time & again. One Man. Brian Lara. Batting superstar. Cricket God.

Leave aside the 148* (with the last man standing to win the match against Australia), forget the epic 375 against England, forget the 501* against Durham in a county match, forget the 400* (to regain his batting record), forget the 11187* (and still going strong....to become the greatest scorer in the history of the game), forget the second-fastest 100 in ODI history (though it came against Bangladesh), forget the other trivial records like 28 runs of the last over in a Test Match (!!), his onfield brawls with Glen McGrath & Allan Donald and then proceeding to take them to the cleaners for a brief time before getting out to the very same bowlers ("but mate, I already proved a point"). But just for the great character that it takes to win over grudging admirers from your arch rival's camp, Mr Brian Charles Lara, wish there were more like you!!