Sachin Tendulkar vs Brian Lara – A debate that every cricket fan had had since the 1990s as to which is the greatest of all time between these 2 icons. There is no doubt that these two are the Two best of the last 35 years and they both motivated each other to do better in every match. We will get into their detailed stats and Records below but let me just say as an ardent cricket fan I would like to thank both of you for giving crores of people like us memories of a lifetime.
Sachin Tendulkar started his cricketing career in 1989 and Brian Lara started his career in 1990 so both of them were at the same time. They both have got over 10,000 runs in both Tests and ODIs. Brian Lara had a 17 year glorious career till 2007 and Sachin Tendulkar played for 24 years till 2013. Comparing these 2 is like comparing my 2 Favorite ice cream flavors and that is not possible to do so we will try to do the tough task. So, let’s do this:
We will take the comparison on the basis of formats. First, we will compare in Test Cricket and then in ODIs.
Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara in Test Cricket
Here's the record for Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara in a test cricket:
Sachin Tendulkar - Test Cricket Stats
Sachin Tendulkar has played 200 Test matches for India which is the most out of anybody in the history of the game and he played for 24 years. He has played 329 Test innings and has scored 15921 Test runs for India which is also the highest in test cricket history. He has a highest score of 248* in tests and he has scored his runs at an average of 53.79 with 68 Half centuries and 51 Test hundreds which is also the most by a single batter in test cricket. He has scored 6 double Hundreds in Test cricket and he also has 46 Test wickets to his name.
Brian Lara - Test Cricket Stats
Brian Lara has played 131 Test matches in his career in which he played in 232 innings for West Indies. He scored an amazing 11953 runs which at one time was the highest runs in test history before it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar. He has a highest test score of 400* which is still the highest individual score in Test history after 17 years when he made this record. He had an outstanding average of 52.89 with 48 half centuries and 34 Test hundreds He has 9 double Hundreds and 2 triple hundreds to his name thus making him one of the rarest to do so.
Sachin Tendulkar vs Brian Lara Record in Away Tests:
Here is the comparison of Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara's records in Away Tests:
Sachin Tendulkar vs Brian Lara Record in 4th innings in Test Matches:
Here's the comparison of Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara's records in the 4th innings of a Test match
Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara in ODI Cricket
Here is the ODI cricket record comparison between Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara:
Sachin Tendulkar- ODI Cricket
Sachin Tendulkar has played in 463 ODI matches in his career which is the most number of ODIs that one player has played in. He has batted in 452 ODI innings for India and he has made an astonishing 18426 runs which is the most runs by a single player by a long distance and he has a highest score of 200* when he became the first batter in ODIs to cross the 200* mark in ODIs. He has an average of 44.83 and he has got 96 hald centuries and 49 hundreds which is again the most by any player in ODI History. He had a career strike rate of 86.24 in ODIs. Also he took 154 wickets in ODIs thus making him the only player to Score more than 18000 runs and take 150 ODI wickets.
Brian Lara- ODI Cricket
Brian Lara played in 299 ODI Matches for the West Indies in which he batted in 289 Innings. He scored 10405 ODI runs at an average of 40.49 with a highest score of 169 runs. He had 63 half centuries and 19 ODI hundreds and he batted at a strike rate of 79. 51 in ODIs. He had one of the most incredible ODI careers in the history of West Indies cricket and he will always be remembered fondly. He also has got 4 wickets In his ODI career which I am sure will mean a lot to him as well.
Check here Best innings of Brian Lara
Final Verdict
Now we come to the difficult part where I have to give my opinion on who I think is the best among the 2 and now that we have seen the incredible records they both have in tests and ODIs I can say that we far as ODI cricket is concerned Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest of all time and no one comes close to him , not even the great Brian Lara as Sachin is way ahead in every aspect in the white ball format.
Whereas in test cricket it is a more closer contest as both of them got mountain of runs and Lara played 69 test matches fewer but only fell short by 4000 runs but Sachin Tendulkar has the better average and Lara had the bigger scores so cannot compare the 2 but according to me Sachin Tendulkar Is the best test player of all time as well as well as he was the one who made me a cricket fan.