West Indian player says Carl Hooper is better than himself and India’s Sachin Tendulkar
Despite being a legendary West Indies player with many records in the history of cricket, Brian Lara said that his former teammate Carl Hooper is the best player he has ever seen in terms of raw talent.
“Carl was easily one of the best players I’ve ever seen. I would say that not even Tendulkar and myself would come close to that talent,” wrote Lara in his book as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Lara believes that Hooper is more gifted than him and even India’s Sachin Tendulkar.
He holds the record for the highest score by a batter in Tests (400) and First Class Cricket (501) while Tendulkar is the all-time leading run-scorer in both Tests (15,921) and ODIs (18,426).
“Separate Carl’s career from playing to captaining and his numbers are very different. As a captain he averaged near to 50, so he enjoyed the responsibility. It’s sad that only as a captain did he fulfil his true potential,” he said.
Lara also picked two players each from England and India who he believes can break his record of 400 runs in a Test innings.
“There were players in my time who challenged, or at least went past the 300 mark — Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sanath Jayasuriya. They were pretty much aggressive players,” Lara told The Daily Mail.
“How many aggressive players do you have playing today? Especially in the England team. Zak Crawley and Harry Brook. Maybe in the Indian team? Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill. If they find the right situation, the records could be broken — both of them,” he added.
