Lara has no answers

Brian Lara would have hoped that the snap rains that swept past the Beaujesour stadium twice on the third day might just have been that elusive signal from up above.

Brian Lara would have hoped that the snap rains that swept past the Beaujesour stadium twice on the third day might just have been that elusive signal from up above.

Fooled by the pitch, his four-man pace attack savaged by the Indians, tired, frustrated and maybe quite angry at the lbw decision by Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf that knocked him out for seven in the first innings, it’s not been the best of times for the West Indian captain.

Look how he faced a tough call last evening — by angrily cutting the line. Asked about his “poor performance” against India in Test cricket, Lara let out an exaggerated sigh, glared hard and replied: “Yeah, next question please, thank you.”

Today, as the Indians made more room for themselves in the second Test after showing the door to Lara’s team at 215 in the first innings and enforcing the follow-on, the 37-year-old, running on reserve, was forced to stare at that question, once again — moving himself up to at No. 3, this time.

Really, if there’s this one blot in Lara’s career, it has been on the scoresheet against India. Despite that 375, the unbeaten 400, those 31 centuries, each one of those 11,319 runs and that magnificent last evening win against Australia in Georgetown seven years ago, the modern day batting great has failed, miserably, against India in his 16 years of Test cricket.

His overall batting average may be hovering around the 52 mark, but his India average is far, far below at 35. And, in 14 Tests against India — till this one — he has scored one century and 11 sub-20 scores, including three ducks. Besides, he has never really faced the Indians in their lair — India has hosted only three of his 126 Tests.

Of course, he has a 209 against his name in one of the two Tests that this ground has hosted till now, but remember, he has also not crossed 50 in the second innings since an 86 against South Africa in January 2004.

Story continues below this ad

“The pressure is on us and we know that,” said Lara, adding, “We just have to come out there and show some strength of character. And fight. We are very confident that we can pull it off. Yes, we are looking forward to defying the Indians.”

For India then, the only question that bothered them today was this: when? Last evening, it was young Munaf Patel who had the answer, getting two to nip back and cut down opener Ganga and danger-man Sarwan off successive balls. Then, Kumble took over the mike, with Lara’s wicket and, this morning, that of Chris Gayle (46) and Dwayne Bravo (25).

But the reply that would have really warmed Indian hearts came from one bowler, one ball. Irfan Pathan, back in action after two eventful weeks in the sidelines, got one to reverse swing dramatically at the last minute to trap Shivnarine Chanderpaul (30) in goodbye zone. India is actually shining.