Former England captain, Michael Atherton, one of the bestmodern exponents of technical perfection, in his autobiography, Opening Up,talks about Tendulkar and Lara as the best batsmen he has played against.Atherton, a Cambridge blue in history, discusses the batting styles of the twogreat modern masters. Lara, according to Atherton, is the only player of hisgeneration to possess a touch of genius. The only person to run Lara close,according to Atherton, is not Tendulkar but the Indian master’s former captainMohammed Azharuddin. According to Atherton, Lara, and to a lesser extent,Azharuddin, make batting look so easy and beautiful when executing their shotsin the most unorthodox yet elegant ways. Tendulkar, on the other hand, isextremely orthodox in his shot selection, yet remarkably quick in scoring hisruns, and very predictable in the production of runs as well. According toAtherton, Lara, even at the height of his brilliance, gives the bowler and thefielding captain a ray of hope. On the other hand, Tendulkar is the person whoclinically mauls the confidence of the bowler and the fielding team and makeseverybody, including the opposition, believe that his wicket is for the takingonly after a customary hundred or even more. Atherton’s analysis of Lara andTendulkar are, in fact, remarkably similar to those about the twosome by ShaneWarne and Allan Donald.