5 Shots that shaped up Brian Lara’s batting

No other batsman would have treated the cricket balls harder than Mr.Brian Charles Lara during his era of the 90s and 2000s.

If it is Virat Kohli for us in the current generation, who wins matches single-handedly for his team, it was Brian Lara on those days.

Lara’s was the period where the batsmen were not exposed to taking the whole responsibility of the team. It was more a team game by then because of the lethal bowling attacks the primary teams had.

Contrary to his generation’s batsmen, Lara was both aggressive and technically loud of his own kind. Even the spinning legends Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan during his period, have got the scar mark from this West Indian bloke.

The most interesting character in Lara is, he loves challenges. And have ended up on the winning side most of the time.

What makes Brian Lara, a specialist batsman?

The tag “proper batsman” can be acquired when a player can execute a certain number of cricket shots with near perfection against the toughest of bowling.

However, Lara was the one who can showcase many shots with the perfection that can please our eyes. He had got all the shots from the book; he just had to react to the ball in his way. That is all it is required to see the magic from this Trinidadian batsman.

I feel it unfair to restrict Brian Lara’s range of shots within a certain number because he is among the very few batsmen in cricket, who can play shots all around the park. To analyze his shots, we are going to discuss the top 5 batting strokes, which shaped up many of Brian Lara’s greatest knocks.

THE LATE CUT

Here’s the most seen shot from Lara – The Cut.

With his high backlift, he can cut an incoming delivery at ease. It had left many point fielders with a blurry image of the ball travelling past them. 

Whenever he played this shot, it took the ball very little time to rush to the boundary.

Allowing the ball

• Lara allowed the ball to come inside until he gets the angle right to play.

• And this made the late cut more effective.

Top of the ball

• The left-hander exactly knocked the head of the ball, which always got him to a great position to play the shot.

Roll of the wrists

• Wrist work was the critical element of his cut shot.

• The left-hander worked his wrists naturally to guide the ball through the gap.

Bending the upper body

• Brian Lara’s flexibility was enough to get the angle of the shot.

• And the angle was produced from the flexible bend of his upper body while contacting the ball.