Lara the megastar

Watching Lara take on Kaneria and gang as I write this - the effortless ease with which he can turn it on is just way too amazing. He is 58 off 46 balls, and the ability to find the gaps and also clear the outfield is unparalleled.

I was listening in to the Cricinfo Roundtable discussion, where everyone (Ian Chappell, Wright, Ravi Shastri and Tony Greig) ranked him as the best in the world. Their assessment was based on the fact that he dominates better than everyone else (read Sachin and Ponting), he looks great while in full flow and has done it better than everyone else against all attacks, against world class spin and in all conditions. I agree - but not fully.

At his best, he is the best in the world, no question about that. If there was a one off match against the best from Pluto, you would probably pick Lara at his best (or Ponting on current form). However, if you wanted someone to play the entire year against all forms of opposition and want consistent aggression and class, you would pick Tendulkar at his best (which means the late '90s). Lara is the one-off maverick, Ponting now is the big match bull, and Sachin is the consistent high class performer.

Update 2: Still going strong, our man. 165 not out at a run a ball. His manhandling of Kaneria and Shoaib Malik is outstanding to watch. How can we forget one of his greatest abilities - to be able to convert 100s into big, big ones. 400, 501, 375, 277...
Update 1: 4-0-6-6-6-4 off one Kaneria over before I could finish the post above, and he has rocketed on to 92 off 63! Lara added 40 runs before I could finish one blog post. Can anyone else do that in a Test match?? Away from home??