Even as Sachin Tendulkar plays his 200th and final Test match in his backyard in Mumbai, people everywhere are paying tributes to his marvelous career, asking almost rhetorically if there will ever again come a man who can strike out record books like he did. But for all of Tendulkar's superhuman feats on the cricket pitch, there is one particular record he hasn't broken (yet) - the highest Test score. Tendulkar has never scored a triple hundred in 24 years. The highest he has ever made in international cricket is an unbeaten 248 against Australia in Sydney nine years ago, in what was an innings of great resilience. But the highest score in Test cricket, of course, is well over that with fellow legend Brian Lara logging no less than 400 against England in Antigua.
So an interesting question was posed to me by my friend as we reminisced Tendulkar's 24-year-career. Will Lara's 400 ever be surpassed? Perhaps if Tendulkar couldn't do it, surely no one else can?
A key stat to note in both Tendulkar's 248 and Lara's 400 is that both those knocks were unbeaten. So if time and circumstance had allowed them to go on, God knows how far they would have reached! But that precisely is the point, isn't it? If one must score a triple hundred, or indeed a quadruple hundred in Test cricket, he needs to go at the rate of knots, before time annuls the game. That makes sense when you consider that the only four people to have thus far scored two triple hundreds in Test cricket are Sir Don Bradman, Brian Lara, Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle - each one a devastating name of his generation, capable of sending shivers down the spines of the most rugged pacers.
That isn't to say that Tendulkar couldn't have joined them. After all, he did become the first man ever to have scored a double hundred in the 50-over game! So is strike rate the lone problem to breaking barriers in a Test innings? Not at all. The trouble with scoring big in Test match cricket is that you need to not just score at a rapid pace in order to keep time for your bowlers to gain a result out of the game, but also make sure you do it before you run out of partners at the other end. In other words, you need to make the most of every ball you face for hours and sessions on end - something that requires tremendous agility, fitness, concentration and mental toughness. So Tendulkar couldn't do it. Can anyone still?
The one man most people would have backed to break Lara's 400 is Virender Sehwag. Sehwag is perfect for the job. He is devastating on his day; he makes the most of every ball he faces; he scores runs so quickly that it doesn't matter how long he bats; and above all, he is the kind of guy who will try hitting you for six even on 299*. That ticks almost all the boxes you need. But Sehwag seems to be past his prime and is currently on exile from the Indian team, playing in little towns for little teams. One can't tell how long it will take him to be back in Team India if ever, but even if he does, the age old question of 'is he too old' will continue to persist.
So if one were to count out Virender Sehwag for the moment, the hunt for the next Brian Lara can be streamlined to the hunt for the next Virender Sehwag. That should be much simpler surely, considering that modern day batsmen have become far bolder after the advent of T20 cricket? Maybe not. But even as he struck a string of hundreds in the early part of his career in the Baggy Greens, David Warner seemed like the deal. But soon enough, he ran into trouble and only retains a ceremonial position now at the top of Australia's batting line-up.
Many then would be tempted to go for Virat Kohli. The man, after all, is all of only 24 years and in many ways seems 'the modern day version of Sachin Tendulkar' (but when did Tendulkar become ancient anyway?) Kohli seems a likely candidate. He is gritty alright, and scored a fine hundred in Adelaide on India's abysmal tour there nearly two years ago. He has also shown the ability to score hundreds off fifty balls and consistently win T20s when they long seemed lost. But can Kohli do all of that and be consistent with the rapid scoring for all of 400 runs, coming in at four in the Indian Test team? Perhaps. But also perhaps not. At any rate, it seems unlikely that Virat Kohli's batting role in the Indian Test team will afford him the luxury to do it at any given time. It also remains to be seen if Kohli can bring his ODI batting prowess to the Test arena without losing the strike rate too much.
That brings me to my favorite candidate now - Shikhar Dhawan. Shikhar Dhawan, following his reinvention after an embarrassing start in 2010 against Australia, has become all but the next Virender Sehwag. Winning a Test debut earlier this year, Dhawan avenged his earlier failures by smashing a breathtaking 187 against the same opponent. He then went to England for the Champions Trophy and ravaged every part of the British Isles for a fortnight, before eventually returning with the cup. Indeed, he is devastating. He is gritty. He makes the most of every ball he faces. He doesn't mind whacking sixes in the 90s (or 190s or 290s or 390s, although he hasn't got there yet.) He has the right attitude to batting. He has the right team around him. And if you must add more, he too is from Delhi.
Of course, scouting someone who can be the next Brian Lara isn't just difficult; it is impossible. Lara didn't just hit triple hundreds; he hit bloody big ones and did it twice. Surpassing his 400 is obviously going to be the stuff of legend. And someone is going to have to be living the most divine day of his life to make it happen. Something still tells me that it's as unlikely as can be.
So an interesting question was posed to me by my friend as we reminisced Tendulkar's 24-year-career. Will Lara's 400 ever be surpassed? Perhaps if Tendulkar couldn't do it, surely no one else can?
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That isn't to say that Tendulkar couldn't have joined them. After all, he did become the first man ever to have scored a double hundred in the 50-over game! So is strike rate the lone problem to breaking barriers in a Test innings? Not at all. The trouble with scoring big in Test match cricket is that you need to not just score at a rapid pace in order to keep time for your bowlers to gain a result out of the game, but also make sure you do it before you run out of partners at the other end. In other words, you need to make the most of every ball you face for hours and sessions on end - something that requires tremendous agility, fitness, concentration and mental toughness. So Tendulkar couldn't do it. Can anyone still?
The one man most people would have backed to break Lara's 400 is Virender Sehwag. Sehwag is perfect for the job. He is devastating on his day; he makes the most of every ball he faces; he scores runs so quickly that it doesn't matter how long he bats; and above all, he is the kind of guy who will try hitting you for six even on 299*. That ticks almost all the boxes you need. But Sehwag seems to be past his prime and is currently on exile from the Indian team, playing in little towns for little teams. One can't tell how long it will take him to be back in Team India if ever, but even if he does, the age old question of 'is he too old' will continue to persist.
So if one were to count out Virender Sehwag for the moment, the hunt for the next Brian Lara can be streamlined to the hunt for the next Virender Sehwag. That should be much simpler surely, considering that modern day batsmen have become far bolder after the advent of T20 cricket? Maybe not. But even as he struck a string of hundreds in the early part of his career in the Baggy Greens, David Warner seemed like the deal. But soon enough, he ran into trouble and only retains a ceremonial position now at the top of Australia's batting line-up.
Many then would be tempted to go for Virat Kohli. The man, after all, is all of only 24 years and in many ways seems 'the modern day version of Sachin Tendulkar' (but when did Tendulkar become ancient anyway?) Kohli seems a likely candidate. He is gritty alright, and scored a fine hundred in Adelaide on India's abysmal tour there nearly two years ago. He has also shown the ability to score hundreds off fifty balls and consistently win T20s when they long seemed lost. But can Kohli do all of that and be consistent with the rapid scoring for all of 400 runs, coming in at four in the Indian Test team? Perhaps. But also perhaps not. At any rate, it seems unlikely that Virat Kohli's batting role in the Indian Test team will afford him the luxury to do it at any given time. It also remains to be seen if Kohli can bring his ODI batting prowess to the Test arena without losing the strike rate too much.
That brings me to my favorite candidate now - Shikhar Dhawan. Shikhar Dhawan, following his reinvention after an embarrassing start in 2010 against Australia, has become all but the next Virender Sehwag. Winning a Test debut earlier this year, Dhawan avenged his earlier failures by smashing a breathtaking 187 against the same opponent. He then went to England for the Champions Trophy and ravaged every part of the British Isles for a fortnight, before eventually returning with the cup. Indeed, he is devastating. He is gritty. He makes the most of every ball he faces. He doesn't mind whacking sixes in the 90s (or 190s or 290s or 390s, although he hasn't got there yet.) He has the right attitude to batting. He has the right team around him. And if you must add more, he too is from Delhi.
Of course, scouting someone who can be the next Brian Lara isn't just difficult; it is impossible. Lara didn't just hit triple hundreds; he hit bloody big ones and did it twice. Surpassing his 400 is obviously going to be the stuff of legend. And someone is going to have to be living the most divine day of his life to make it happen. Something still tells me that it's as unlikely as can be.
