The legendary Brian Lara has done some incredible things during his career but none comes to the fact that he scored 400 not out in a single innings of a Test match. Yeah, let that sink in. Believed by many to be the original marathon man of Test cricket, Lara twice held the record for the highest individual score in a Test match. In 1994, he overtook Gary Sobers’ 365 and scored 375 against England, a record that stood for 10 years until Matthew Hayden pummelled 380 against Zimbabwe.
But perhaps the record was a little too dear to Lara, which is why, barely months later, Lara did it again, this time completing a quadruple century to once again take home the world record. It’s been 20 years since, and no one has even come close to it. However, batting great Lara did admit that certain batters of his time did threaten to break it, including Virender Sehwag, who scored two triple centuries for India.
“There were players in my time who challenged, or at least went past the 300 mark – Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Sanath Jayasuriya. They were pretty much aggressive players,” Lara told The Daily Mail.
Sure enough, records are made to be broken. About 10 years ago, no one would have imagined that Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 49 ODI hundreds could be broken. But it was by Virat Kohli not too long ago. Lara’s 400-run record is in the same bracket as Tendulkar’s 100 centuries. It looks unlikely but never-say-never. More so because modern-day teams and batters play for wins rather than draws, and hence, the likelihood of a batter scoring 400 runs is bleak. Then again, stranger things have happened in cricket. On the same note, if Lara could think of names who can do it, the list includes two Indians and two English youngsters.
“How many aggressive players do you have playing today? Especially in the England team. Zak Crawley and Harry Brook. Maybe in the Indian team? Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill. If they find the right situation, the records could be broken – both of them,” said Lara, who was fondly known as the Prince, a moniker that coincidentally was given to Gill.
Crawley and Brook have exemplified England’s ‘Bazball’ style of play, and as Lara pointed out, it’s the aggressive ones than the more orthodox batters who have a better shot at having a crack at Lara’s record. Jaiswal surely is, and by scoring over 700 runs in the Test series against England, the left-handed opener has shown his penchant for playing long knocks.
As for Gill, his highest Test score thus far is 128, compared to Jaiswal, who’s already notched up two double centuries, to go with an innings of 171 on his debut. In fact, all three of Jaiswal’s Test centuries have been scored of 150-plus. So while Jaiswal has surely show potential to play long, Gill needs time and more opportunities to show the same flair.
Gill is currently captaining the Indian team in Zimbabwe, and Jaiswal is playing under him.
