Lara closes in on Tendulkar's record

Brian Lara's magnificent century at Multan put West Indies on top and put them in a position to try and level the series. Cricinfo lists out some of the statistical highlights of the knock

S Rajesh

21-Nov-2006

Brian Lara's magnificent century at Multan put West Indies in a position to try and level the series. Cricinfo lists out some of the statistical highlights of the knock.

Four hundreds in consecutive Tests for Brian Lara against Pakistan © AFP

This was Lara's 34th century, and puts him in second place in the list of batsmen with most hundreds, just one short of Sachin Tendulkar's record of 35. It was also his 19th score of 150 or more, beating Don Bradman's record of 18. Sachin Tendulkar is next in the list with 15, while Steve Waugh (14), Sunil Gavaskar (12) and Garry Sobers (11) are the others in the top five.

When this series began, Brian Lara had scored all of 178 runs from eight innings in Pakistan, with a highest of 44. In three innings in this series, he has set right that anomaly, scoring 379 in three innings to lift his average in Pakistan to 55.70. This was also his fourth hundred in successive Tests against Pakistan. (Click here for Lara's performances against Pakistan.)

Lara finished the day with 196 in 230 balls, but before lunch he set an even more frenetic pace, getting to his hundred off a mere 77 balls, making it the ninth-fastest century in terms of balls faced. The bowler who suffered the most at his hands was Danish Kaneria, who leaked 71 from the 59 balls he faced from him. Kaneria's 30th over was especially memorable, when Lara blasted 26 in an over, the third-highest ever in Tests.

Lara also became the sixth batsman to score a century before lunch. Batsmen have scored 100 or more runs before lunch 19 times, but only on five previous occasions have batsmen started their innings and got to their hundreds before lunch.

Lara is now within touching distance of becoming the highest scorer in an innings for West Indies in Pakistan. He needs just 22 more to get past Rohan Kanhai's 217 at Lahore in 1958-59.

In his last 18 Tests (including this one) Lara has scored eight hundreds at 55.94. (Click here for his stats in his last 17 matches.)

The 200-run partnership between Lara and Dwayne Bravo is the highest fifth-wicket stand in Tests for West Indies against Pakistan, and the third-highest for all wickets. The 446-run stand between Garry Sobers and Conrad Hunte in Jamaica in 1957-58 is the highest, while Sobers and Clyde Walcott added 269 in Guyana in the next Test of the same series.

This is only the fifth Test at Multan, and already four batsmen have scored more than 190. Virender Sehwag leads the way with his 309 in 2003-04, while Sachin Tendulkar (194 not out) and Marcus Trescothick (193) are the others to have struck it big here. (Click here for all the hundreds at Multan.)

Brian Lara West Indies Pakistan vs West Indies West Indies tour of Pakistan

S Rajesh is stats editor of Cricinfo.