KARACHI, May 7: Danish Kaneria, the Pakistan leg-spinner, said on Saturday that he was keenly waiting to confront the veteran batting genius Brian Lara on the forthcoming tour of the West Indies. Kaneria, the only bowler in the current squad with more than 100 Test wickets, expressed his desire to get the 36-year-old Lara’s prized scalp in the two-match Test series that gets under way at Bridgetown from May 26.

“I have never bowled to Lara in a Test match. Although now in the twilight of his career, he is still a magnificent player even at this stage,” Kaneria told Dawn.

Kaneria pointed out that the task for Pakistan was not going to be as easy as many people expect despite the up-and-down performance of West Indies in Test cricket recently.

“We can’t afford to take West Indies lightly with Lara in their line-up. Even though they lost to South Africa but with someone like Lara around, we have to be on guard since he has got that uncanny ability to change the complexion of the match.

“But at the same time, we must remain focussed in our endeavour as we showed during the series in India despite being the underdogs.”

Kaneria, who has 121 wickets to his credit in 26 Tests since his debut against England at Faisalabad in 2000-01, attributed his current spree of success to determination and sheer willpower to perform at the highest level.

“I love challenges and there is nothing in the world that gives more satisfaction than giving my very best for Pakistan. I never get tired of performing for the country. For me Pakistan always comes first and nothing pleases me more than a win for my country.”

“The experience of playing in India was electrifying and to do well against the Indians in their own conditions was very satisfying.”

Kaneria, a cousin of former Test wicket-keeper Anil Dalpat, disagreed that he conceded far too many runs in recent Tests against Australia and India.

“In those matches I had to bowl a lot of overs, and since I had been mainly used as a strike bowler, the number of runs given away per over was still respectable. Moreover, a leg-spinner generally goes for more runs because of the attacking nature of this kind of bowling.”

Kaneria, currently 11th in the ICC Test bowlers’ rankings, was modest when told that he upstaged Shane Warne and Anil Kumble in Pakistan’s last two series in Australia and India, respectively.

The Pakistani took 15 wickets to Warne’s 14 and 19 to Kumble’s 17.

“I rate both Warne and Kumble very high in the list of leg-spinners. Compared to me they are true legends. But I was naturally happy of the fact that I took more wickets than them,” he said.

“But what pleased me most was when Richie Benaud (who himself was a great leg-spinner in the 1950s and 60s) acknowledged my performance in Australia with some kind words.”

Kaneria revealed that playing in the county championship in England last year has made him a better bowler. “My first season with Essex (he picked 63 wickets in 11 first-class fixtures) was a great learning experience because of varied playing conditions. I learnt a lot in those few weeks.”

When asked to nominate the batsmen he found difficult to bowl at, Kaneria picked Rahul Dravid (the top Indian batting star), Australian captain Ricky Ponting and his compatriot Damien Martyn. “Without any doubt they are the best batsmen I ever bowled to. All of them are master players of leg-spin.”

Getting Saurav Ganguly (the Indian captain) stumped in the Bangalore Test victory was another highlight of Kaneria’s career. “Ganguly was dropped by Younis Khan off my bowling shortly before I managed to deceive him with a leg-break (off-break to the left-handed Ganguly) that left him stranded down the pitch.

“Taking the final wicket of the match (Lakshmipathy Balaji) was another highlight simply because we squared the series.”

Among his most memorable matches, Kaneria rated his match-winning effort against Sri Lanka at Karachi (10 wickets) last year in the same bracket as the series-levelling win in Bangalore.

“Pakistan trailed in both series which why I rate these Tests among my favourites because we won them.”