As the World Cup veers to a close, the curtain has come down on one of the finest batsmen to have walked the earth: Brian Charles Lara. But it is also quite evident that the climax is not too far away for two others, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and Inzamam-ul-Haq. All three arrived on the scene, in a manner of speaking, in the 1992 World Cup and all three, it seems, are likely to depart five cups later.

Experts queasy of taking a stand say we should never compare batsmen (or bowlers) of different generations. But since Lara, Sachin and Inzy were contemporaries, let’s ask who among the three was the best. Was it Lara for his supple grace, the blistering aggression, the 375, the 501, the 400? Is it Sachin, who besides 25,000 runs, was/is also a quite wily bowler? Or is it Inzy, who more times than we can count, rescued his team from crisis? Tell.