Sourav Ganguly and Brian Lara discuss cricket and more: highlights

Legendary Brian Lara and Sourav Ganguly discuss with NDTV what's next in store for retiring Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar. Here are all the highlights from the discussion:

 

Sourav Ganguly: "I'll just put Sachin a little ahead of Lara because we have played for the same team. Not more than that."

 

Brian Lara: "Just enjoy the next 5 days of cricket and (if) you have the ability to score 400 runs, go and score 400."

 

Brian Lara: "I don't think that any cricketer compares with Sachin in terms of a cricket career."

 

Ganguly: "When you are young you do a whole lot of things, which you realize that you shouldn't have done (Lord's shirt incident)."

 

Ganguly: "All those who say money is terrible, you make them work five days and don't pay them. They won't turn up."

 

Ganguly: "My daughter never watched me play Test cricket, but when I played for Kolkata, she would not miss a game."

 

Ganguly: "I must thank whoever started this IPL. It looks after first class players, that is the biggest plus point."

 

Ganguly: "T10 cricket? Well I don't think, because you have to give time to people to finish their beer."

 

Ganguly: "T20 is here to stay, whatever you say, whatever, whether the people like it or they don't like it."

 

Brian Lara: "T20 has brought a new generation. A whole different ball game and I appreciate that as well."

 

Brian Lara: "We the purists of the game love the longer format of the game, it is still a spectator sport."

 

Brian Lara: "If you want to be a great sportsman you got to be able to handle any condition."

 

Ganguly: "It's going to be hard when India go to SA and play a two-day game and get into a Test match straightaway in Durban."

 

Lara: "I'll make sure that Sachin fights to get a hundred in Mumbai."

 

Ganguly: "Umpires around the world have got so much respect for Sachin. Nobody gives a bad decision deliberately."

 

Lara: "I'm here to see runs, I'm here to see West Indies win, but I'm here to see Sachin play in his last Test innings."

 

Ganguly: "I am sure Sachin would be nervous, whether he gets to sleep or not, I don't know, it's the way he is thinking."

 

Lara: "I don't think there is any sportsman, any top sportsman who can tell you that they are not nervous before they do."

 

Ganguly: "I didn't have a 100 in Eden and I went back home and I couldn't sleep the whole night. Next day, I got the 100."

 

Ganguly: "Once you get used to the pace, your body starts reacting to it. So it's all about thinking."

 

Ganguly: "When I walked out against Shoaib Akhtar, I said everyone is watching and now if he hits you, you will look like a fool."

 

Ganguly: You are more nervous outside. When you go in, you take guard then it's a situation you do or die."

 

Read here: If I was Sachin Tendulkar, I would have retired a year ago, says Sourav Ganguly.

 

Lara: "You really can't make a decision on any young player. You have to see them on different conditions."

 

Ganguly: "Kohli, Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have got the ability to win you games, whether they can do it all conditions time will say."

 

Ganguly: "If they go and get runs in South Africa whether it's a Kohli or a Pujara or a Rohit Sharma, I would consider them as great."

 

Ganguly: "I have believed in players who would win you games because everyone will fail."

 

Ganguly: "I believed in picking the right players and giving them an opportunity which I see a lot in Mahendra Singh Dhoni."

 

Ganguly: "You can have 4 hours of team meeting, you can practice for 8 hours but if you don't have talent you will not get there."

 

Ganguly: "I have always believed in that we needed to be a good side overseas."

 

Ganguly: "Even my maid at home in the morning of the game would say you need to play well."

 

Ganguly: I didn't worry about the expectations of a billion people, I just wanted to play and do well for myself.

 

Brian Lara: "Basketball you have to mention Michael Jordan. When you speak cricket, I would speak about Sachin."

 

Ganguly: "If I would have been in his place, I would have gone a year earlier but that's that way Sachin Tendulkar is."

 

Ganguly: "For me, it's a right decision Sachin has taken that he is going on a high playing at home."

 

Ganguly: "Only because he is Tendulkar, he's been given a run for three years than nobody else would have got."

 

Ganguly: "Sachin is 40 and his feet are as not quick as it used to be. He can still get runs with his experience."

 

Ganguly: "West Indies still have not done anything to prepare for the future and we are gonna be in a quagmire."

 

Ganguly: The discipline, commitment and self-confidence in Indian team now originated from that time when Sourav lead the team."

 

Ganguly: "When I sit back and look at my six years of captaincy, I can be happy that Indian cricket has gone forward."

 

Ganguly: "I liked Brian Lara even more because he played cricket on his own terms."

 

Lara: "I enjoyed batting and I have enjoyed my time playing for West Indies. It has been a treat to be an entertainer."

 

Ganguly: Had a hundred in my first Test. Would have been special to get a hundred in my last Test at Nagpur.

 

Brian Lara: "Today, a lot of people ask me when am I going to play? They don't realize I am 44."

 

Brian Lara: "Retirement from cricket is very tough decision because it is not a job you pick up after you leave school."

 

Ganguly: "It is important to be honest. So many people are listening and you actually want to tell what is the right thing."

 

Ganguly: "Happiness, money aren't related. My thing of doing commentary was to watch cricket live and that gave the most satisfaction."

 

Ganguly: "You get what you put in. Same for everyone else Some are slightly more gifted like a Tendulkar or a Lara, may be a Ponting."

 

Ganguly: "You get what you put in. Same for everyone else. Some are slightly more gifted like a Sachin Tendulkar or a Brian Lara, may be a Ricky Ponting."

 

Lara to NDTV: "You don't work out and practice for people to see. You put the work in and you get the results out in the middle."

 

Brian Lara: "I am not a gym fanatic but I liked running. I used to do my work when the pairing eyes were not watching. I had it easy during my playing days."

 

Ganguly: "It was a perception that I hated to train during my playing days."

 

Sourav Ganguly: "I am sure Indian cricket will use him because Tendulkar has been a huge ambassador for the sport."

 

Brian Lara to NDTV: "Sachin is going to want to know what to do on 19th or 20th. He is going to quickly find his feet. He is a successful man."

 

"There is lot more to life and I am happy that I called quits. I had enough energy to move on to other things. Got another daughter": Lara

 

"Thank God, I was watching and not on the field because it is better. If you got tired, you could go off to sleep": Ganguly to NDTV on Lara's 400.

 

They said when Brian Lara bats, he walks on the sky...He is so good: Sourav Ganguly

 

Scoring a Test 400 vs England, I think these things are more destiny than anything else: Brian Lara.