Brian Lara

Brian Charles Lara - the undisputed 'Prince of Trinidad'. He was regarded as the best batsman emerging from the Caribbean Islands, since the great Sir Viv Richards. During his playing career, Lara was part of his generation’s fab-four, including Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, and Jacques Kallis. He was an attacking left-hander who was a treat to watch, when in full-flow, apart from being a prolific leader and a genuine match-winner. 

The prodigy was instantly inducted into West Indies cricket as a young virtuoso from making his mark in age-group to rocking the charts at the domestic level. In no time, a 20-year-old Lara was brought onto the international stage to make his debut against Pakistan in November 1990. On the same tour, the youngster got his Test cap, in the absence of Richards, and he showed glimpses of the class in the innings of 44 and 6 against Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan, and Abdul Qadir. 

Soon, the southpaw established himself and played the 1992 World Cup as West Indies’ main weapon to score 333 runs at great rates. Two years, Lara became one of the biggest in world cricket when he brought the world in his awe after bashing 375 versus England at Antigua and, a few weeks later, cracked 501* for Warwickshire. 

In the next decade or so, Lara archived every possible honour on the cricketing field. He captained the national team, scored the historical 400*, apart from scoring 11953 Test and 10405 ODI runs. However, West Indies also saw an extreme low when they lost to South Africa and England, which led to a load of criticism for Lara. Whereas, Lara’s captaincy highlight came during the 2004 Champions Trophy when the Trinidad-born inspired his boys to victory. 

In 2006, Lara stepped down from the leadership role after a dispute between the West Indies board and the players union. A year later, Lara decided to bid goodbye to international cricket, though he played professionally in England and India for a couple of years. 

(As of May 2021)