Brian Lara picks the toughest bowler he ever faced

He was the best left-handed batsman of his time and kept the pundits busy over deciding who was better between him and Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar. But Brian Lara also has his share of respects for two among the greatest bowlers of his time and both are spinners. The former West Indian great had a tremendous on-field rivalry with the duo, something that remained cynosure of all eyes in modern-day cricket.

Lara scored over 22,000 runs in international cricket and had the remarkable feat of reclaiming the crown of the highest scorer in an innings in Test cricket from Australian Matthew Hayden. The former southpaw said though it was never easy to get away with former Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, it was his duels with Australian leg-spin wizard Shane Warne that he enjoyed the most.

He was recently in New York as part of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 Trophy Tour where he during Reddit AMMA, “He (Shane Warne) played for the best team in the world during my era, he was, and still is, regarded as the best leg-spinner to play the game. It was a battle I just embraced in some of the largest cricketing arenas.”

Scored big against both legendary spinners

Brian Lara delivered against both Muralitharan and Warne in their respective dens during his playing days. While he hit a scintillating 277 in Sydney in 1993 against an Australian team which had Warne in its ranks, he slammed 688 runs in three Tests against Sri Lanka that had Murali in 2001 even though the Caribbeans lost 0-3.

“Muttiah (Muralitharan) always confused me in the early part of our confrontation, whilst Shane Warne didn’t. Having said that, as my innings grew I felt I had more control over Muttiah, whilst Shane seemed to grow in confidence. They were definitely the two best spinners of my time,” Lara, 49, added. While Murali ended up as the highest Test wicket-taker with 800 scalps, Warne is the second in the list with 708 wickets to his name.

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