Brian Lara has advised the West Indies batsmen to take a leaf out of Sachin Tendulkar‘s book and learn from his unbeaten 241-run knock at Sydney, ahead of their Southampton Test against England.

Discussing West Indies’ chances in the three-Test series against England and how the Caribbean batsmen can cope with the English pace attack, Lara suggested that trying not to dominate every bowler could go a long way in helping the visitors get something out of the series.

“In England, it [the approach] is to protect your stumps and get acclimatised quickly, get the pace and bounce of the pitch,” he said while in conversation with Tendulkar on the show 100MB. “Know what the bowlers are doing and then when you feel comfortable, then you can sort of grow and get into your innings. [But] you don’t necessarily have to dominate every single bowler that’s bowling to you. When you get to 70 or 80 and there’s a bowler that is giving you trouble, back off.”

Lara cited Tendulkar’s 241* knock at Sydney in 2004 as an example of how the West Indian batsmen should respect the bowlers who are troubling them and score runs off the others. On India’s tour to Australia, Tendulkar was struggling against deliveries outside off, having collected scores of 0, 1, 37, 0 and 44, before he slammed a double century in Sydney, deciding not to play the cover drive through the course of his knock, his highest Test score at that time.

Who remembers this absolute classic from Sachin?

A knock unlike any other in Test history.pic.twitter.com/pHp3t0sUqX

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) June 6, 2020

“That’s the key [not dominating every bowler],” Lara continued. “You know that as well, Sachin. In terms of that great innings that you played in Sydney. It wasn’t about a particular bowler getting you out but it was a particular shot getting you out. And you stopped yourself from playing it and so you were able to score in other areas. So it’s a similar sort of approach, be it your technique and maybe having a problem with a particular shot or a particular bowler.

“In the many, many times that I’ve played … a good example would be Australia. [When] playing against Australia, and I would be on 70, 80 or maybe even 140 and [Glenn] McGrath comes back for a spell, and I know he is going to bowl six overs or seven overs, then I don’t need to take any great risk when there are other guys at the other end, giving me the opportunity to score.”