Glenn McGrath picks the tougher batsman between Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara

Former Australia fast bowler Glenn McGrath had rivalry with two of the premier batsmen of his time — India’s Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies’ Brian Lara. There were enough instances of the Pigeon renewing his on-field battles with the two legends. Laurels were shared and Mcgrath continues to hold the batting duo in high esteem. Recently, McGrath, who turned 50 this month, picked one of those batsmen as the tougher one he faced while bowling.

The legendary bowler with 949 international wickets said both Tendulkar and Lara were “equally good” but conceded that it was the Caribbean’s consistency against Australia that kept him ahead in the final judgment.

“That was Brian (Lara). He never changed his game,” McGrath was quoted as saying by Times of India. “I may have got him out 15 times, but he also scored big hundreds and double hundreds against us when both me and Warnie (Shane Warne) were playing together for Australia.”

Lara had made a 277 in Sydney, Australia, in just his fifth Test innings in 1993. He scored four hundreds and as many fifties in 19 matches in the long format Down Under at an average of almost 42.

‘Lara slightly harder to bowl at than Sachin’ – Glenn McGrath

“When it was his day, he could do absolutely anything. Sachin was equally as good, but there was something about Brian where he could just keep going and he was slightly harder to bowl to than Sachin. He was more fearless,” McGrath added.

Tendulkar also played some memorable knocks in Australia during his maiden tour of the country in 1991-92 and ended up having six hundreds and seven fifties in 20 Tests in Australia at an average of 53-plus. His highest score in Australia was 241 not out made in Sydney in 2003-04.

Overall against Australia in Tests, Lara made nine hundreds and 11 fifties in 31 Tests to score 2,856 runs. Tendulkar, on the other hand, scored 11 hundreds and 16 fifties in 39 Tests against the Kangaroos to score 3,630 runs.

In ODIs, Tendulkar scored nine tons and 15 half-centuries in 71 matches against Australia to make 3,077 runs at an average of 44.59 and the highest score of 175. Lara played 51 games against Australia in which he slammed three hundreds and 15 fifties to make 1,858 runs at an average of 39.53.