Lara scores over Sachin in roundtable on how good is modern batsman

Mumbai, Nov 4 (UNI) West Indian captain Brian Lara today beat the Indian champ Sachin Tendulkar hands down at a roundtable organised by Cricinfo on 'How good is the modern batsman' here.

The roundtable which was participated by cricketing greats Ian Chappell, John Wright, Tony Greig, Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Manjrekar, who was the moderator, saw three of them plumbing for Lara, with only Wright rating both Lara and Tendulkar at par.

''You just look at some players and think you do not see talent like that everyday. The top three batsmen I saw play were Barry Richards, Viv Richards and Greg Chappell. Of the current players, I would have to choose Tendulkar and Lara,'' said Wright.

Greig and Shastri short-listed Lara, Tendulkar and Australia's Ricky Ponting as the batting giants of this generation, but zoomed on the Caribbean king simply because he had dominated attacks more ruthlessly even while playing in a weak side.

''Ricky Ponting is very good, but for him to be considered along with Lara and Tendulkar, he has to continue the run for a longer time,'' said Shastri, adding ''for Ponting to be considered a true great, he has to perform better on the subcontinent.'' ''That is where Lara is great. He is looking to attack even a bowler like Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan). Lara has dominated more often than not, he has played against some of the best bowling line-ups. To be playing in a weak team and yet come out and dominate like that is great.'' The Trinidadian has broken the world record for the highest individual score twice. His record-breaking scores, separated by 10 years, came against the same opposition (England) and at the same ground (St John's Recreation ground, Antigua). Lara is also the only batsman to score 400 in Test cricket and holds the record for the highest first class score (501 not out).

''Lara had a short phase where we went crazy but apart from that, he has been a class player,'' added Chappell.

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