Gaurav Kalra: Hello and welcome to a very special programme on CNN-IBN with the man who is undoubtedly among the greatest to have ever played the game.
The highest run scorer in the game of cricket, the only one to have made a 400 in a single test innings and the only man to make 500 runs in a first class innings. Brian Lara a very warm welcome to CNN-IBN.
Brian Lara: Thank you very much.
Gaurav Kalra: What brings you to India?
Brian Lara: Well, I have got a commitment to MRF with whom I have been associated for the past two-three years. Whenever we have a break, I head out to Chennai and I am in Delhi today. It is good to be here.
Gaurav Kalra: Right now you ar coming off after a 2-0 series loss against New Zealand. A little disappointing but it has been a period where there has been a bit of a slump in West Indian cricket. A lot of young guys have come in but for the last eight-nine years there has been a decline in the standard of West Indian cricket. What reasons come to your mind for this decline?
Brian Lara: First of all I must say that the natural talent is still there. We have still got the young players who are going to be the future. I just feel that at present we have got guys who are learning the game of cricket.
You don't really want that unless you have a genius that can cope with it. So it is going to take some time but these young players are going to play for us for in the times to come. But as you said it's been nine-ten years. I remember being a part of the team when we lost our first series in a long time in the Caribbeans since I don't know when. It was back in 1995 that we lost.
Gaurav Kalra: Against Australia.
Brian Lara: Yeah. Since then it has been a steady slide downhill but I am still here and very optimistic that at some point of time, hopefully before I an finished, we can turn the corner and start heading back in the right direction.
Gaurav Kalra: That is the people in India want, may be second only to India winning. There is an admiration for West Indian cricket, there is a legacy -- the Marshalls, the Garners, the Viv Richards, the Laras. Is it that legacy that is weighing down the younger players? The fact that they are following on the names that are legendary in the game.
Brian Lara: Sometimes. I suppose there is a situation where people would always compare the present team with those of the past. They want to see this team achieve what that team achieved. I think that is impossible and sometimes, maybe, unfair also.
You are talking about a group of young players. Clive Lloyd took a group of young players and moulded them and it took some time as there was the Kerry Packer factor. Then back in early 80s he got a team that was able to focus and be invincible.
Gaurav Kalra: Do you sense that when you are in the dressing room there are 18-19 years old boys also. They may think Oh my God, I am playing with Brian Lara, who has got more runs than anyone else in Test cricket. You brought in Fidel Edwards by watching aqnets session in Barbados. Guys like him are 18-19 and sitting with you. It is intimidating for me. Imagine how it must be for a 18-19 year old boy.
Brian Lara: Yes, you sense that and you try to make them as comfortable as possible because that is why I am here for. I am like a father figure. You don't want anybody to be uneasy and think that you are unapproachable. So I make myself accessible and try to get them to speak about cricket. I play a very big part in that and to get them to know the history of the game. A lot of them come with no experience at all and no understanding about the legacy of West Indian cricket. So I suppose that's my role at present.
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Gaurav Kalra: Let me ask you something now, you have led this team twice - with a reasonable amount of success with the bat as well as the captain. These include the memorable wins in the West Indies and everyone remembers those cover drives and getting those runs off Gillespie and winning that match. Wonderful moments, of course.
The point being that as a captain, you lead by example and watched this team do some wonderful things. The Champions Trophy, that was another wonderful moment of your captaincy. However, as a captain, did you notice there were areas where you thought that these boys needed to start focusing on for that revival to begin, which maybe hasn't happened over that period.
Brian Lara: We were capable of an occasional performance. I mean if we talk about a big Test match in Antigua - 418, which is a world record - couple of other outstanding wins - the ICC tournament - we actually had the consistency, which was lacking. And not necessary just on the make-up, I had before myself Richie and Courtney Walsh.
After me, it was Carl Hooper, Jimmy Adams and for a long period of time we were just not able to perform consistently. But yet, on occasions, we performed better than anybody had performed. I think that it is a bit strange, but it comes with the experience of the team and this belief to play the game at the highest level consistently over a long period of time.
As I said that we can only sit and hope that now that at some stage - with the experience that we have gained now - even though we may be developing a losing habit, which I am very wary of. I still feel that there is an opportunity for them at the end of the road to become something special.
Gaurav Kalra: There is one other area about the West Indian game that gets talked about a lot. In fact, a lot of former players and experts mention about the structure of the game in the Caribbean. It needs to be understood that they are all different countries and they are not one country like Australia or India or England. However, what is your take on this? Did West Indies always have this ability to produce this enormous talent and then suddenly, when it dried up a little bit, the structure was not there to support the rest of the development?
Brian Lara: Exactly, I think that the structure is important. I think that is the reason that Australia, England and India is harnessing the natural ability of the young cricketers and getting it to a level where they can perform consistently and be a good cricketer.
I think in the West Indies, we just sit back on our rocking chairs and think that we are going to churn out the next Vivian Richards or Gary Sobers. But we do not have to do anything. That is not the case anymore. We are a lot more disciplined, there is a lot more technology in sport and a natural talented player is now coming back to the field. This is the area I think that we'll have to look at.
Gaurav Kalra: Let us look at you personally a little bit. You will be 37 in a month that is starting to get to the age when people start to ask or write - Is it time now? How much time is left in the game for Brian Lara? Personally, I fell that you are playing as well as you have. Your record over the past two years is phenomenal. You had a good innings in New Zealand as well before coming here, what are the sort of goals that you set for yourself?
Brian Lara: I have cut back a bit in the One-Day game, even though I would like to play in the World Cup. Uppermost in my mind is that if I remain an asset to the West Indian cricket, I will continue. The moment I become a liability, I know I have to make way for somebody else. I still see myself as a father figure and somebody who still has something to offer to the younger players before I leave. I am looking to lend my experience to them.
Gaurav Kalra: Let me ask you one thing that has staggered everyone in world cricket - reclaiming that world record when you got to that 400. They are memorable pictures for whoever has seen them.
Not just the sheer quality of innings which we have a lot from you over the years, but the sheer number of runs - 400 runs in a Test match - that is not what normal batsmen do. You are not normal, that was just an outstanding performance. When you sometimes look back, do you sometimes wonder - Gosh! Was that just a dream?
Brian Lara: No, it was not a dream. It was a situation where I remember I had about a 100 runs in the three Test matches, leading up to the final Test match. It was a situation where we also lost the previous Test matches. So, we were looking first of all to save ourselves from a wipe out.
We won the toss on a pretty easy batting track. And we set ourselves a target of 750. If we can get that, then we know for sure that we can apply the pressure on England for the match. Who got the runs didn't matter. Fortunately, I got 400 of them. I was a situation where I was really struggling and I will always remember, one of my first coach in the West Indies team, Rohan Kanhai, had said whenever things are going good, you have got to set your stalls out and get as much as possible because you don't know when the lean period is.
It was good to get such a total, but then, in the whole run of what took place, we lost our series 3-0, and the when we went to England a few months later, we lost the other series. So, it was not the greatest year in terms of Test cricket as a team.
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