Brian Lara feels that this player was more talented than him and Tendulkar

West Indies legendary batsman Brian Lara feels that there was a player who was more talented than him and Indias Sachin TendulkarIn his new book Lara The England Chronicles the Windies batting great Brian Lara also known as the Prince of Trinidad for his exceptional strokeplay and records revealed the player to be former West Indies allrounder Carl HooperIn the book Lara said about Carl that he was one of the best players he saw The West Indies great lauded his onceteammate for playing exceptionally well as a captain during which he said he fulfilled his true potentialCarl was easily one of the best players Ive ever seen I would say that not even Tendulkar and I would come close to that talent Separate Carls career from playing to captaining and his numbers are very different As a captain he averaged nearly 50 so he enjoyed the responsibility It is sad that only as a captain did he fulfill his true potential Lara said in his book as quoted by ESPNCricinfoCarl Hooper played 102 Test matches from 19872002 and scored 5762 runs with an average of 3646 He also had 13 centuries and 27 halfcenturies to his name With the ball he claimed 114 wickets His best bowling figures were five wickets for 26 runsAlso ReadSuryakumar Yadav emerges as dark horse for Indias T20I captaincyRepresenting West Indies in 227 ODIs Hooper registered 5761 runs with an average of 3534 He also had seven tons and 29 halfcenturies in the format with the highest score of unbeaten 113 runs In ODIs the former allrounder claimed 193 wickets with the best bowling figures of four wickets for 34 runsHe also captained WI in 22 Tests winning just four losing 11 and drawing seven Hooper had a much better ODI record as a captain winning 23 of his 49 matches losing 24 and two ending in no resultSpeaking about Hoopers 111run knock against England at Lords in 1991 Lara said that inning reminded him of Carls class He also said that despite being so talented Carl himself could not understand how great he wasWhen I think back to that Lords match I see the class of Carl Hooper Man what a player The ease in which he batted brought out a kind of awe in us and in all of us even the senior players You felt that when Carl went out to bat they enjoyed it Desmond Haynes Viv Richards Richard Greenidge all these guys would stop what they were doing just to watch him said LaraHe was so talented yet he didnt understand just how good he was People would ask why he didnt do full justice to his brilliance and you know what there is no clear reason for it he addedBrian Lara also said that former batting great Sir Vivian Richards used to make Hooper and him cry at times Further he also stated that Vivian Richards was more fond of Hooper than LaraI will say this Viv used to make me cry every three weeks but he would make Carl cry once a week Vivs tone of voice is intimidating and if you are not strong enough you can take that personally and be affected by it Me I was never really affected by it In a way I welcomed it because I was so much under his arm that I knew abuse was coming and I was a strong personality Carl I know for a fact that Carl shied away from Viv Richards said LaraI dont think Viv wilfully intimidated you It was just his makeup He is not a bully Viv Richards is not a bully But Viv has a very strong personality He is a very aggressive person who dealt with most things that way If we had a team meeting he would inspire He would back his players forever He would talk in such a way that it left a mark on you Even now he is not a soft person Maybe he has a soft side but a soft personNow listen it needs to be said that Viv Richards never cried down on a person because he did not want them to be great like him His sternness was who he was but he never wanted you not to do well It was just how he was And look Viv loved Carl Much more than he loved me that is for sure But the way Viv shows love did not resonate with Carl he concluded his pointFeaturing 425 matches Brian Lara accumulated 22260 runs with an average of 4666 He also has 53 centuries and 110 halfcenturies to his name With these records he is considered as one of the greatest West Indies batsmen and also one of the best World cricket superstarsWith ANI Inputs