From an unbeaten 501 in a County match, to 400 not out in a single innings of a Test match, Brian Lara pulled off some incredible records during his playing career. Lara broke the record for must runs by a batter in a single innings of Test match not once, but twice. In 1994, he overtook compatriot Gary Sobers’ 365 and scored 375 against England at St. John’s. The record was broken 10 years later when Matthew Hayden smashed 385 against Zimbabwe.
However, Lara didn’t let it slide this time as he smashed an unbeaten 400 against England at the same venue where he overtook Sobers in the first place.
Now, 20 years down the road, Lara’s record still remains intact. In fact, the last batter to even cross 350 was Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene, who scored 374 against South Africa in 2006.
However, Lara admitted that a few players from the current generation are capable enough to break his record. Lara picked two players each from England and India that can surpass his momentous feat.
“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.
“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.
Speaking on what inspired him to break the record twice, Lara suggested: “I fell in love with being that spectacle, reducing the opposition’s options, seeing them pretty much flat. I made that my forte – when I knew a team was down, I wasn’t going to give it away. I was going to take advantage of the situation. That was 375, 400, 501. It was very similar attitude to that of West Indies’ great bowlers. When you have a red ball in your hand and are bowling at 90 miles an hour, you know guys are going to be scared.”
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