Legendary West Indian batsman Brian Lara has revealed that he was sad when Australia's David Warner did not end up breaking his long-standing record of 400 not out in Test cricket during the Kangaroo's second Test against Pakistan in Adelaide.
The Aussie batsman played a colossus unbeaten knock of 335 runs before skipper Tim Paine declared on Day 2.
However, Warner did manage to surpass Sir Don Bradman's record for the highest-ever Test score of 334 but failed to get near Lara's stand.
"I actually felt it was kind of destiny, being in Adelaide at the same time something like that was about to unfold. I felt that he should have been given an opportunity to go after it," Lara told Reuters during an interview.
"Obviously, Australia was going to declare but it felt like give him another five or 10 overs, maybe even tell him because he is a very good Twenty20 batsman," Lara added.
"If you tell him 'hey get into that T20 mood and see if you can go for it'. I think it would have been great to see and records are made to be broken. Of course, they have great respect for Sir Donald Bradman and his achievements, but I feel that maybe he could have had a little go at it."
Lara also lauded two Indian batsmen who he thinks have the potential to break his long-standing record in the future.
"A guy like Rohit Sharma who you know you wonder if he's still a test cricketer or not," he said of the prodigious right-hander who has just begun opening the innings for India.
"If he gets going on a good day, on his day, on a good pitch, right situation he can do it."
"It will need an attacking option. I know he's fell off the radar a little bit, Prithvi Shaw was one of those attacking options. Hey, here's a 19-year-old who has the world in front of him, hopefully, he can come back soon."
The 50-year-old also said that he had a conversation with Warner on December 5 at the sidelines of the Australian Open golf pro-am.
"When I met him I asked him 'what happened?' He said 'this whole thing is cool'. That's about it. We didn't focus on that, we were about to play golf," said Lara, before bursting into laughter."
"I think it's important that you understand it's nothing that you can set your sights on. I believe that it has to be destiny, has to be the perfect situation.
"If it happens, I think it's just going to be an unbelievable experience for the person and it's going to be good for cricket," he said.
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