5 fascinating contributions by players in series losses

#2 Brian Lara – 688 runs at 114.66 versus Sri Lanka (2001)

Lara was at his prolific best against Sri Lanka

With Brian Lara, one could never quite be sure what to expect. He really seemed to be a batsman who was a slave to his mood. When he felt good, he could tear the best bowling apart but when he seemed distracted, fans were often left ruing and cursing.

In less than a decade, Lara had endured some extraordinary highs – world record scores of 375 and 501*, series-changing displays against Australia – and some miserable lows – the complete loss of form against South Africa in 1998 and the poor display against Australia in 2000.

Back after a self-imposed exile, Lara knew that his side was facing one of the toughest challenges – Muttiah Muralitharan at his peak and in his own backyard.

The 3-0 series defeat for the West Indies was probably never in doubt. But the fact that it came despite Lara’s superhuman effort stunned the cricketing world. Lara took on the wiles and guile of Muralitharan and turned the much-anticipated contest into one-way traffic.

Muralitharan was to later remark that he had never been witness to a better performance against spin. It often felt that Lara was in a totally different class when compared to the rest of the batsmen. He made nearly 45% of the team’s runs in the series and ended with 688 runs which included three outstanding centuries. The highlight of the series, however, was his display in the final Test where he scored 351 runs (221 & 130) and yet ended up on the losing side. This still remains the highest aggregate in a Test defeat.

Lara turned around his Test career remarkably. In the last few years of his career, he averaged more than 60 and went past Allan Border to hold the record for the highest Test aggregate until Tendulkar went past him. West Indies were not that lucky though. Their record went from bad to worse and the team has struggled to make an impact in any away series for more than 15 years now.

Series Performance	Innings	Runs scored	Average	Balls per dismissal	100/50	% of team runs *
Brian Lara	6	688	114.66	204.3	3/1	44.6%
Top 5 batsmen (WI)	30	748	25.79	63.1	0/6	48.5%
Top 5 batsmen (opposition)	22	1291	80.68	164.2	3/8	76.4%

Form analysis	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100/50
Overall Career	131	232	11953	52.88	34/48
Before the series	80	141	6533	47.68	15/33
After the series	48	85	4732	57.01	16/14