Brian Lara backs Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal to break his Test world record of 400

West Indies batting legend Brian Lara has backed the young Indian batting duo of Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal to break his world record Test score of 400 not out.

It was 20 years ago, in 2004 that Lara reclaimed his highest Test individual score record from Australia’s Matthew Hayden. Back then, Lara scored a quadruple century against England.

In 1994, Lara broke Sir Garry Sobers’ record of 365 by scoring 375. However, Hayden went past the score, smashing 380 against Zimbabwe in October 2003 but a few months later, in April 2004, Lara took back his record.

Now, in the era of Twenty20 cricket, there are some young and exciting batters who have already made their name in international cricket. Jaiswal and Gill are among them and they have impressed Lara.

“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 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.

Gill (24 years) and Jaiswal (22) are currently in Zimbabwe, playing a five-match T20I series against the hosts. Gill is leading the side. Recently, Jaiswal was part of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup 2024 in the Americas.

Talking about the duo’s Test careers, left-handed Jaiswal has already scored two double centuries in nine matches with a highest of 214 not out. All three of his Test tons are scores of 150-plus (214 not out, 209, 171) while Gill’s 25-Test journey so far has seen him score four hundreds with a highest of 128.

Sehwag and Karun Nair are only the two Indian batters to have scored triple ton in Test cricket. Sehwag was the first Indian to join the elite club, scoring 309 in 2004, against Pakistan. He scored one more triple century (319) in 2008, versus South Africa. Nair hit 303 not out in 2016 against England.