Brian Lara (Source:Twitter)
Former West Indies batter Brian Lara is widely regarded as one of the greatest batters of all time. Long after his retirement, Brian Lara still holds two long-standing records of Test cricket to his name. Lara has scored the highest individual score in Test cricket history with his knock of 400 runs against England in 2004.
Furthermore, he went on to register an unbeaten 501 during a first-class fixture in 1994, which made it the highest individual tally in the format. Recently, Lara came forward to talk about the same records and more. He opined that Gary Sobers’ 365 should have been surpassed by the likes of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes.
Furthermore, he picked Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill as the two Indian batters who have the potential to break his red-ball records if the situation is correct for them.
“I was always sort of puzzled that Sir Garfield Sobers’ record wasn’t broken in the 1970s and 80s, when you had the aggression of Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards. 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,” Brian Lara told the Daily Mail.
“They were pretty much aggressive players. 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,” he added.
It is interesting to note that the latest player to score a triple century in Test cricket is David Warner, who did so against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval in 2019. Warner did have the opportunity to surpass Lara’s record; however, Tim Paine decided to declare the innings with the veteran batter on a score of 335 runs.