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Brian Lara
The legendary BS Chandrasekhar and Brian Lara on Tuesday won the Lifetime Achievement awards while India's Sanju Samson and Varun Chakravarthy claimed the men's T20I batter and bowler of the year honours during the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards here. Former India captain Rohit Sharma won a special memento for winning the 2025 Champions Trophy as captain while Shreyas Iyer was given a memento for scoring most runs by an Indian player in the 50-over competition. England's Joe Root, who is now the second highest run-scorer in Test cricket, won the men's international cricketer of the year award. Harry Brook was declared the men's Test batter of the year while Sri Lanka's Prabath Jayasuriya was named the men's Test bowler of the year. India's Deepti Sharma was named the women's international bowler of the year while Smriti Mandhana won the women's international batter award. Vidarbha's Harsh Dubey, who took 69 wickets in Ranji Trophy 2024-25 to set the record for most scalps in a season,
Former West Indies batting great Brian Lara named his 'GOATS' (Greatest of all Time) in cricket, placing Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah among three more legends of the sport.The video for the same was posted on the X handle of the 'Stick to Cricket', a podcast Lara was recently a part of along with former England cricketers Phil Tuffnell, Alastair Cook, Michael Vaughan and David Llyod.Speaking of GOATS, he placed Bumrah along with Australian pace legend Glenn McGrath, South African all-round great Jacques Kallis, and Australia's wicketkeeper-batter icon Adam Gilchrist.A T20 World Cup winner for India, Bumrah is one of the most skilful pacers produced by India, having taken 455 wickets in 206 matches at an average of 20.47, with best figures of 6/19. He has 17 five-wicket hauls to his name. Tests are his best format, with 217 wickets in 47 matches at an average of 19.48, with best figures of 6/27 and 15 five-wicket hauls.McGrath is the fifth-highest wicket-taker of all time in ...
West Indian batting great Brian Lara had predicted Afghanistan would reach the T20 World Cup semifinals nearly a month before the tournament began and now that the giant-slayers have made it, skipper Rashid Khan said he is immensely proud to have proved the legend right. Afghanistan continued their brilliant run at the T20 World Cup as they marched to their first-ever World Cup semifinal with an eight-run win over Bangladesh in the last Super 8 clash here. "The only guy who put us in the semifinals was Brian Lara and we proved him right. When we met him at a welcome party, I told him we won't let you down," Rashid said at the post-match presentation. "I think when you get the kind of great, great statements from a legend, as a team, I think it gives you lots of energy as well. We are capable," he added. Lara, in an interaction with PTI editors at its headquarters last month, had predicted that Afghanistan would be among the semifinalists in the mega-event. "Afghanistan, they are .
Legendary West Indies pacer Wesley Hall has seen a lot of great batters over the years and in his opinion, Indian superstar Virat Kohli belongs right at the top with the all-time legends of the game. The 86-year-old from Barbados, who formed a lethal bowling partnership with Charlie Griffith in the 1960s, also feels that the modern day West Indies players can't be expected to turn down million-dollar contracts in franchise cricket though it does impact the health of Test cricket in the region. In stark contrast to the nomadic life of a current international cricketer, Hall played 48 Tests in a career spanning 16 years. He was a special guest at the Kensington Oval here on Tuesday when he met members of the Indian team and presented his autobiography to Kohli and head coach Rahul Dravid on the sidelines of their second training session. Having also served as sports minister of Barbados, the man of many talents reserved humbling words for Kohli in his brief chat with the former India
The destructive Travis Head has called his Sunrisers Hyderabad opening partner Abhishek Sharma an exciting talent for Indian cricket after the duo combined to pummel the Lucknow Super Giants bowling attack in a record IPL chase here. Head (89 not out off 30) and Sharma (75 not out off 28), who have formed one of the most explosive pairings in the IPL this season, made a mockery of the 166-run target by overhauling it in just 9.4 overs. It was the highest ever 10 over score in history of men's T20 cricket. Both the southpaws hit fours and sixes for fun in what was a sensational display of power-hitting. "The partnership with Abhi has been fantastic, he's such an exciting talent for Indian cricket. We complement each other so well and he's very very enjoyable to be around, he's so excited and thinks about the game and yeah he's got a lot of energy so it's a great partnership to be involved in," said Head in the post-match press conference on Wednesday. Head is in top form ahead of th
A smiling face at every corner, adulation that reminds him of family and to top it all off, a spicy, delectable plate of 'chhole bhature'. West Indies cricket great Brian Lara loves India and for a change, Bollywood has got nothing to do with it. The 55-year-old, who is in the country doing commentary for Star Sports in the ongoing IPL, took time out to visit the PTI headquarters for a free-wheeling interaction with its editors and did not hide his affection for the country where cricket is an obsession. "I'm not a big Bollywood fan. I do come from a country with majority Indian population...So, there is a lot of interest in Bollywood. I'm not even an English movie fan. So unfortunately...Harry Potter and these things, I haven't really seen," he quipped with a wide grin on his face, turning on the charm offensive. "But what I do like about India is the unconditional love," he quickly added. Arguably one of the greatest batters of all time and one of the most recognisable cricketer
Legendary batter Brian Lara feels that West Indies cricketers cannot be faulted for preferring lucrative T20 franchise leagues around the world, like IPL, to national duty, saying playing the game these days is also about "making a living". One of the reasons of West Indies' decline, especially in Test cricket, has been the advent of T20 franchise cricket, with a handful of the Caribbean stars choosing to chase lucrative deals around the world instead of representing their nation in red-ball cricket. For an 18-or-19-year-old to say, 'I'm heading to the IPL', or, 'I don't care about West Indies cricket'... It's not just his fault," Lara told 'Sen Sportsday'. (About) 40 or 50 years ago, you may have been driven or motivated by playing for your country. But the sport today is about playing and making a living, so we have to make sure that that is part of the whole deal that we are selling," said the former captain who is here as team mentor for the two-match Test series against Austral
Legendary Brian Lara's tips on situational awareness of the game will greatly help the West Indies batters during the two-Test series against India beginning on July 12, feels skipper Kraigg Brathwaite. West Indies have received a huge boost ahead of the multi-format series against India with Lara joining them as the team's performance mentor. "It's great to have him here. In terms of the conversations we have with him, we always learn and he's big on planning... on how you are going to score your runs. His advice on situations is great and it will only help the batters," Brathwaite said in a statement on Cricket West Indies. Lara had worked with the team earlier this year on the tours of Zimbabwe and South Africa and the captain said he has a positive influence on the players. The two sides will kick-off their campaign in the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle at the Roseau in Dominica. India are coming off a WTC final defeat to Australia at The Oval recently and would be ..