Goodbye Lara

Cricket fans are a demanding and unpredictable lot, especially if they happen to be from the sub-continent.
In recent weeks, other than the Sri Lankan fans, it has been almost a period of mourning for the Indians and Pakistanis. And that is not just because of the tragic way Bob Woolmer passed away, but also the way India and Pakistan had to fly back home early from the West Indies without making it to the Super8 stage.
Amidst all this gloom, I would still love to watch Saturday’s match between West Indies and England just for one man: Brian Lara. The West Indies skipper, as expected, announced he will not be playing any more cricket after the last Super 8 tie.
So instead of worrying about what the two teams do in the middle, I would much rather just watch Lara. Is he going to be on song, or is it going to be a sad and tearful adieu. Of what I have seen this man do on the field – with or without the bat – it is certain he will try and go out on a high even though there is nothing at stake.
Lara attracted attention, aroused interest and instilled desire in the hearts of millions of fans around the globe. Even if your own team had been playing West Indies, few minded when Lara was in the middle and giving batting a whole new meaning and dimension.
In any sport, left-handers are the most attractive to watch. Yet, Lara was very, very special. Without wanting to sound clichéd, almost anything Lara did had that stamp of class. And for hapless bowlers who got carted to various parts of the park in the cricket field, Lara’s goodbye will mean a fresh pair of lungs for them. When they come and bowl again to West Indies – be it in ODIs, or Tests – they know the marauder will not be there.

Was he really a marauder No, I think, Lara was more like the artist at work, because even when he was decimating the attacks, he did not look brutal in the physical sense. 11,953 Test runs in 131 matches at an average of 52.88 and 10,387 runs in 298 ODIs, Lara did not really have to retire.
He could well have continued for another three years in Tests and gone on to score a few more thousand runs. But then, Lara is not just another cricketer, he knows he is the champion and would like to be remembered that way than a batsman who was trying to hang on just because of the moolah.
Talk of retirement, each one has his or her own way of doing it. Pete Sampras almost had done it to perfection when he won his last US Open title, Michael Schumacher – God on Earth behind the wheels of the F-1 car -- knew he had to go rather than being pushed out by Ferrari
And then we have the desi versions like Dhanraj Pillay who know their days are over but still want to cling on to even that micro-millimetre chance of again playing for India.
As for Lara, he must have made up his mind without spending sleepless nights. To think of retirement must have been as easy as planning how to convert the 300 into a 400 in that famous Test. Please don’t ask me details of the fours and sixes he scored then.
I want to remember Lara as just Lara. The more intricate detailing can be done by the cricket writers…..