Former West Indies pacer Ian Bishop heaped praise on two of the greatest batsmen in cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara while describing the two legends as the “premier” batsmen of his era.
While hailing Tendulkar and Lara for their great skills as batsmen, Bishop said it is quite tough for the players of the current generation to stay stagnant given the prevalence of technology and analysts since they are no more unaware of each other’s game and can easily read them and attack.
Whereas in the past, cricketers could only be seen by the “opposition teams for a couple of years until he came up against them” and that kept them more challenging to play.
In an exclusive interview with Sportstar, Bishop said: “I’ll talk about Sachin and (Brian) Lara. They were the two premier batsmen of my era and great batsmen overall. They both had great skill above others. They both were mentally very, very strong and tough.”
He continued, “Lara was at his best when he was challenged. Where others were intimidated in tough situations, he seemed to grow extra wings. Their self-belief because of the work they put in was off the charts. The tougher it got, the better they became as players.
But more than that, they were able to add to their game and evolve as players across different phases of their careers. Here is something I try to impress upon players: The prevalence of technology and analysts means that a player’s technique is dissected and investigated with each game. This makes it much tougher in some ways than generations before had it?”
About the current era, the West Indian further noted: “In this era, a player has to first develop a solid foundation in his game, and then be willing to add to it and evolve almost every year. You cannot stay stagnant in this era as a cricketer.”
Bishop signed off by saying, “Whereas, in the years before globalization, a player could play quite a bit and not be seen by opposition teams for a couple of years until he came up against them. Now, teams have seen footage of you almost every game you play, domestically or internationally.”
