We covered some of the greatest batters in international cricket to have played in a few previous articles but some of the best were left out and now it is time to celebrate 3 other greats of batting and I will try to do justice to the greatness that was their playing career. We will talk about Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara and Mahela Jayawardene. And we will be starting with a good one as we will compare the stats of Rahul Dravid vs Brian Lara.
Before we compare the stats of these 2 all time greats, I just want to say that these series of articles will be the last for the batters and there could not have been anyone better to finish this series. We have taken 6 batters who have scored 10,000+ runs in both Test and ODI Cricket. So, let’s look at the stats of Rahul Dravid vs Brian Lara
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid is one of the best Indian batters to have ever played the sport of cricket and he is only one of the very few who have made 10,000+ international runs for India in both formats of the game. Rahul Dravid was the ultimate team player as well because he was ready to do anything for the team which was one of his greatest strengths. He had a deep passion for playing for India and wanted to see the team win.
Test Cricket
Rahul Dravid has a great and lengthy test career and he played a total of 164 Test Matches and in those Matches he scored 13288 runs and he made it at an average of 52.88. He also made 36 Test hundreds for India in his career and he has a highest score of 270 in his test career. Rahul Dravid is also the only batter to have played over 30,000+ balls in test cricket history. He just did not like getting out and he had a knack of frustrating the bowlers
Check here Top 5 Best Innings of Rahul Dravid in Test Cricket
ODI Cricket
Rahul Dravid is one of the very few to have scored over 10,000+ runs for India in ODI Cricket and yet he does not get the recognition he deserves in this format of the game. He has played 344 ODIs for India and in those Matches he has made a total of 10,889 runs at an average of 39.16 with 12 hundreds in ODI Cricket. Rahul Dravid was batting lower down the order as well as at number 3 in ODIs and he did equally well in both.
Check here Top 5 Best innings of Rahul Dravid in ODI Cricket
Format | ODIs | Test Cricket |
Matches | 344 | 164 |
Runs scored | 10889 | 13288 |
Batting average | 39.16 | 52.88 |
100s/50s | 12/83 | 36/63 |
Top score | 153 | 270 |
Brian Lara
Brian Lara was one of the best left handed batters to have ever played the sport and he was in the running for the best of his era along with Sachin Tendulkar. Brian Lara was a treat to watch and he made batting look so easy and he was dominant against both pace and spin and he loved making big Scores in test cricket. He is only one of the rarest few to have scored more than 10,000+ runs for West Indies In both formats.
Also Read | Sachin Tendulkar vs Brian Lara – Who was the better batsman?
Test Cricket
Brian Lara was an institution in test cricket and he played in the Golden generation and 131 Test Matches and he scored a total of 11953 runs and at an average of 52.88. He made 34 hundreds in Test Cricket and he made multiple double Hundreds and triple hundred. His highest score in test cricket is 400* which is still the highest individual score by a batter in test cricket after 17 years.
Also Read | Brian Lara vs Muttiah Muralitharan Rivalry: head-to-head stats
ODI Cricket
Brian Lara was a beast in the 50 overs format of the sport and he used to play in a very aggressive manner throughout his career. He played 299 ODIs and made 10,405 runs and he made at an average of 40.48. He made 19 hundreds in ODI Cricket. He had a highest score of 169 in ODIs and he was one of the best to ever do it. I loved watching him bat .
Format | ODIs | Test Cricket |
Matches | 299 | 131 |
Runs scored | 10405 | 11953 |
Batting average | 40.48 | 52.88 |
100s/50s | 19/63 | 34/48 |
Top score | 169 | 400* |
Stats Comparison
If we compare the stats of these 2 great players then in test cricket it is close as both have an average of 52.88. Although Rahul Dravid has made 2000+ more runs than Brian Lara in test cricket so he has a slight edge . In ODIs the contest is very close but Brian Lara has more hundreds and a slightly better average so Brian Lara has a slight edge in ODIs.
Also Read: Mahela Jayawardene vs Rahul Dravid – Stats Comparison as Batter
