Brian Lara Quotes

I've spent most of my life watching fast bowlers - initially as a kid on TV and later in the flesh when I started playing top-level cricket.

Just being in the whole environment around the IPL, around the people that you ge to play with and against means it's going to be really, really good.

I was a wicket-keeper who opened the batting. Could I have made it? Hard to say. I probably wouldn't quite have been good enough. I might get back into it once I've finished with the football.

That one thing that people say about me taking plays off, I feel like somebody said that when I was playing in college and it has followed me throughout my career. Because I feel like if we had the film and you wanted to pick one person who was taking a play off on a particular play, you could pick anybody.

For somebody like me who doesn't bowl, it's important to contribute in the field, and I've worked hard on that, slip catching.

I believe that I'm one of the best defenders in this league; I take a lot of pride in that.

If you are just a drag-flicker, you may some time be out of the team because you're not performing well.

I don't think anybody in any sport ever sucks. You're an athlete. You're a professional.

You have got to field well. If you don't bat well, you can still make a difference by fielding well. There are times I have played games just because of my fielding.

Having played in the league during the '80s, '90s, and the new millennium (old, I know), I had the chance to see firsthand how the best point guards of our time played the game.

I became a professional footballer because I love football.

I feel like I should be an NBA player.

My father had always hoped that one day I would be a great cricketer, captaining the Stowe Eleven, perhaps, or even playing for Cambridge.

It is all about the talents of the young players. If they have the talent you have to give an opportunity. If they don't have the talent then, OK, you have to look elsewhere.

The battle between bat and ball is a one-on-one thing. I love that stuff, but you play it in a team.

In 2004 in England, there was one catch that was very special to me. I was bowling in a league match, and the batsman hit the ball over my head. I had to run back to between mid-off and mid-on to take the catch, and I did.

On Edens Gardens pitch, nobody bowls well.

I love Messi. I also derive inspiration from the god of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar.

Cris Carter and Randy Moss - they're the guys who made me want to play football and be a receiver.

Kicking's kicking. Pressure's pressure. You beat other guys just to get drafted.

I was a child who was interested in sports, and represented my school in football, cricket, badminton and table tennis.

I love the individual characters that cricket produces and, more than most other sports, the unlikely heroes.

In professional cricket, everybody wants to win.

I had an expectation going into the NFL, and then the experience that I had exceeded what I expected to see from people that played at that level. And so, it was a learning experience not only from a mental standpoint and a physical standpoint, but just a routine standpoint.

I was helped by the fact that my dad is a cricket fanatic and that my three brothers and two sisters all played. It's just part of our family.