Brian Lara is one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket with feats that many who play the game can only dream of.
The world record holder for the highest individual scores in both Test cricket (400 not out) and First-Class cricket (501 not out) has also been gracious enough to lend his knowledge of the game to the current crop of players and has been appointed as the batting coach for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad.
One of his pupils will be his Trinidadian countryman and fellow stylish left-hander Nicholas Pooran, a prospect the current West Indies T20 vice-captain is excited about.
“Yeah, we have had a couple of conversations in the recent past. He's simply superb, amazing when it comes to batting and how he views the game. So yeah, looking forward to that opportunity to work with him,” Pooran said in an interview with ESPNCricinfo.
The West Indian great Lara scored 11,953 runs in Test cricket with 34 hundreds at an average of 52.88 in 131 matches. He scored 10,405 runs in 299 ODIs with 19 hundreds at an average of 40.48.
The 2022 edition of the IPL kicks off on March 26th while Pooran and Lara’s Sunrisers have their first game on March 29th against the Rajasthan Royals.
Pooran is coming off scores of 61, 62 and 61 in the three T20 Internationals against India last month and if his current form is anything to go by, he should have a stellar IPL season. The input of Brian Lara should certainly help.