Mumbai, Nov 23: West Indies' Darren Bravo and Brian Lara may have more in common than just class, but the former doesn't seem to get bogged down by the similarities and comparisons with the legendary Prince of Trinidad.
Bravo, who had equalled Lara's record of scoring 941 runs in 12 matches prior to the ongoing third Test against India, today stroked his way to 166, but still fell short of the 167 the world record holder had scored in his 13th Test, against England at Georgetown.
“Had I scored one more run I would have equalled Lara's record. But it is something that I didn't plan, it is not something that I would go out and achieve.
“Nevertheless, I played a good knock and got a big hundred for my team. Hopefully, we would go out there tomorrow and put down a good performance,” Bravo said after helping his team amass 575 for nine on day two of the Test at the Wankhede Stadium here.
This was Bravo's second ton in as many innings and third in his last six to take his tally to 1,107 runs, which is again one less than Lara at the same stage.
“It was very important to stay as much as possible on the wicket. The openers did a tremendous job as well as number three Kirk Edwards. It was important for me to continue the job. I batted pretty well yesterday and continued it today with Edwards. Unfortunately he did not get another hundred. Kieran Powell played pretty well,” he said.
After his mammoth effort, Bravo said it was tiredness that led to his dismissal off speedster Varun Aaron.
“I think I became a bit tired. It was tough for me batting for the past couple of days. It took a toll on me. But nevertheless I'm satisfied with my performance,” he said.
Asked to compare today's knock with the 136 he churned out in the second Test at Kolkata, Bravo said, “I think it was a good performance. I don't want to compare. It was a pretty good performance at that point of time. Hopefully I will continue to do that.”
