Brian Lara
Brian Lara the renowned West Indies batting icon has articulated his wish to play in the Indian Premier League but said he has to be fit to keep up with the pragmatic expectations o be featured in next year’s Twenty20 event.
Lara has made a comeback just two months ago to the world of competitive cricket by starting first with Zimbabwe’s T20 league after three years of his interval and has accepted that he needs to make himself visible to be picked up for the 2011 IPL season.
“If I was to give myself a chance to play in the IPL, then I need to start now,” Lara told. “I tried negotiating with Surrey in May and that fell through. I am not going to say that I am ready for the IPL. The option is around the corner, and I have put my name in the hat. But I need to play cricket regularly from now till then to get fit and capable of doing justice to the game and to my form in such a highly competitive league,” he said.
He also agreed to the fact that he was interested to become a mentor-cum-player role as played by Shane Warne of Rajasthan Royals or like Stephen Fleming of Chennai Super Kings.
“I see myself in that light as well. I don’t want to be fighting with the youngsters for a game … left out today, playing tomorrow. I would like to see myself as someone who can make a contribution even if I am not in the final XI. I would like to get involved in a holistic way and not just as a player,” said Lara, who scored 11953 runs in 131 Tests.
Discussions between Surrey and Lara for the 2010 Friends Provident t20 failed to come to anything, Lara affirmed that he still wanted to sign a contract to play Twenty20 cricket. Late in the year he joined Southern Rocks, a Zimbabwean side, to battle in the 2010–11 Stanbic Bank 20 Series, on his debut for the Rocks, and his first-ever Twenty20 match, he scored a half-century, top-scoring for the Rocks with 65. He added 34 runs in his next two innings, but then left the competition, citing “commitments in a different place”.
Tags: Brian Lara, Cricket, Indian Premier League, IPL, IPL 2011, IPL 4, T20 League, West Indies
