Windies captain and legend Brian Lara has decided to bid adieu to the one-day internationals after the 2007 World Cup to be played at West Indies. He will lead his team on the home pitch for the 2007 world cup, and then will concentrate on his test career only.
After being out of form for a long time in ODI’s, he said, ‘I think that I should leave the one-day internationals after the 2007 World Cup’. Lara is just 38 runs behind the 10,000 milestone in one-day internationals, and would be joining the exclusive club including Sachin Tendulkar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sanath Jayasuriya and Sourav Ganguly.
Lara, the left-handed batsman started his ODI career in 1990 at the age of 21 yrs but is more popular for his test records. In 1994, he scored 375 runs in the test match against England in Antigua setting up a new test world record as an individual.
After a massive ten year gap, Lara again score an unbeaten 400 runs, against England in Antigua in a test match in 2004, keeping in mind that the earlier score has been defeated by the Australian left-handed batsman Matthew Hayden.
Lara added, ‘At 37 he knows what are the expectations, and he really want to fire the world cup tournament which is an important one for him being the hosts of the tournament’.
At present, Lara has 11,953 test runs being the only batsman in West Indies, but he has beenout of the squad generally as a regular player.
Two years back, he surprised his team, when he lead the team to victory in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy. West Indies stated, being the finalists in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, they have an opportunity to make the 2007 World Cup tournament, but still Australia is the best.
As the time is heading towards the 2007 World Cup Tournament, Lara should focus mainly towards the welfare and success of the team. Lara may change his mind of leaving the ODI’s if the Windies perform well in the tournament.
Via: BBC
