David Warner
Donald Bradman is not just a name related to cricket but also a benchmark to assess the calibre of any other cricketer anywhere in the world. In fact, some Australians consider his scores so sacrosanct that when Mark Taylor equalled Bradman’s highest Test score of 334, he declared the innings to indicate an emotional announcement that no Australian batsman could be better than the legendry Bradman. However, in due course of time Mathew Hayden went on to record the highest individual score of 380, overshadowing Len Hutton’s 364 and Gary Sobers’ 365 not out; an individual world record that remained so until it was eclipsed by the West Indian Brian Lara’s 400 not out.
While Bradman’s Test career average of 99.94 seems to be insurmountable for all times to come, whenever any batman anywhere in the world surpasses any of the other achievements of Sir Donald Bradman, it becomes a matter of glory for whatever its worth. However, when any batsman overhauls two of Bradman’s records on the same day during the course of the same innings, the achievement becomes a red letter day in the career of such a batsman. On 30 November 2019, while playing against Pakistan at Adelaide, David Warner had such a red letter day when he scored an unbeaten triple century. When Warner reached the triple century mark, he erased from the record books the 299 not out scored by Sir Bradman against South Africa as the highest-ever runs scored by any batsman at Adelaide and when he finished at 335 not out, he overhauled Sir Bradman’s highest individual Test score of 334. Since it was a day and night Test match, Warner in the process also became the highest individual scorer with the pink ball.
Pakistan’s innings loss in the Test in just four days went on to show that perhaps Tim Paine’s decision to declare the Australian innings was premature and Warner should have been given the opportunity to have a go at Brian Lara’s individual record, especially when Warner was scoring at a brisk rate of over 4.8 runs per over; his 335 having come off just 418 deliveries.
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Gp Capt Achchyut Kumar has been associated with The Teenager Today for more than 50 years as a reader and contributor on varied topics. Having worked in the Indian Air Force and with Forbes & Company Limited, he is now a lawyer in Nainital High Court.